A Likable Comedy -- Nothing Special, But Decent

Rating: 6/10 (11 August 2008)

After being dumped by actress Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), a composer named Peter Bretter (Jason Segel, who also wrote the screenplay)tries to take a vacation in Hawaii. But, as luck would have it, she's there with her new boyfriend (Russell Brand). Cue the new girl named Rachel from the front desk (Mila Kunis). Does Peter try to get Sarah back? Go for the new girl? Walk away and move on with his life? Guess you'll have to wait and see.
While I didn't find myself rolling around on the ground laughing, and even though most of the plot is incredibly cliché and predictable, I found something endearing about this film. It comes off as a raunchy film -- especially with the full frontal nudity -- but has a lot more character and less juvenile tendencies than "American Pie" . In some ways, I could almost sympathize with Peter (especially the way he'll eat abnormally large amounts of breakfast cereal).
The Mila Kunis was nice -- she's a decent enough actress and very easy on the eyes. The lead was strong. Kristen Bell was a bit weak, but managed to pull off her part. What was really great was the cameo cut-aways with William Baldwin and Jason Bateman. I looked forward to each one-liner, no matter how bad they were going to be. This was really the clincher between a one-time view and a repeat. I'd be glad to see this one again.
I was torn on the Dracula musical. It was clever and I think this had a lot of potential, both as a subplot and even as a stand-alone spin-off if they wanted to make it. But I don't know how much I liked the idea of puppets, and when we finally see the finished project I found it rather disappointing. Not something I would go and see. So, Peter, I hope you made Rachel happy because you failed me.
Nothing new here, but a classic love tale and some decent jokes with full frontal nudity (male). If you like a good comedy and don't mind some smut, check this out. I suspect it will be better than Kevin Smith's attempt at raunchy humor, and I already know it tops the string of teenager films from the past decade. And if you need a break from Will Ferrell, here's a good chance. Although, sadly, since Judd Apatow produced it, there's some scenes with Paul Rudd and Jonah Hill that I could have done without.