A Greg Mottola movie of "Dog of the South"? Bring it on

Greg Mottola's "Adventureland" is one of those movies that just gets better and better with age. I've seen it three times now, and though the ending seems ridiculously tacked on, it's still just a thoroughly entertaining snapshot of a time we've all been through at some point (though most likely not with Kristen Stewart to pitch woo at.)

He's in "post-production" now on something called "Paul" which, once it comes out, should just be a hoot. It stars British comedy duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" as two geeks who end up picking up an alien voiced by Seth Rogen (naturally) while on a cross-country trip to Comic-Con. I still have no idea when this will be released, but hopefully by the fall, and you can count me as thoroughly amped for it.

Mottola has developed into one of my favorite directors (he also made a little movie called "Superbad"), and he's now eyeing as a future project the Charles Portis novel "Dog of the South," for Bill Hader to star in. If you've ever read the novel, you should know just how funny this could be.

Portis' most famous novel, "True Grit," is getting the remake treatment (though in their hands, I'd really hesitate to use such a dirty word) from the Coen brothers this year, coming as a Christmas day gift and starring Josh Brolin, Matt Damon and the Dude. "Dog of the South," while certainly a lesser Portis work, is still worth reading if you like dry Southern comedy.

As a movie, it should be a great fit for Bill Hader. Simply put, it's about a guy who tracks his ex-wife and her lover through their credit card receipts, mostly so he can get his hands on the car she took with her. It's a lot better than I'm making it sound here, and well worth checking out. Here's hoping the movie comes together fairly quickly.

And speaking of "Adventureland," its star, Jesse Eisenberg, has just signed on to the followup by "Zombieland" director Ruben Fleischer, and it's quickly assembling a great comedy cast.

In the flick "30 Minutes or Less," shooting this summer, veryfunnyguy Aziz Ansari plays a junior high history teacher who is forced to join forces with a pizza delivery guy played by Eisenberg to rob a bank when one of them is strapped to a bomb vest. Throw in Danny McBride and Michael Pena as some of the baddies in this scheme, and you've got me pretty much hooked.

All I've got after that today is a clip from what has to be the one movie I'm most looking forward to seeing this year, assuming it eventually makes it down here somewhere even close to my little corner of the world, Jean Pierre Jeunet's "Micmacs." So far, I know it's playing in New York and L.A. this week, with four more cities promised next week, and only "coming to a theater near you" after that. Here's hoping that's true, because this one really does look like it's thoroughly infused with the Jeunet spirit. Enjoy this clip he introduces for HitFix (and swiped by me for you enjoyment), and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.

Two crazy rumors, one to laugh about and one to hope for

You know, I would suggest someone try to shame The Sun if it had even an ounce of it left, or the folks who put it out just clearly didn't have so much fun f***ing with the entire world.

The British's tabloid's latest creation, as I've dutifully documented above by sharing the photo, is the immediately shot down but still very funny rumor that one Robert Pattinson would be playing Kurt Cobain in a biopic to be titled "All Apologies." And, as you might be able to tell, that's Scarlett Johansson in the photo as Courtney Love, who Love has supposedly and rather immodestly suggested should play her.

All I can really say about all that is great title, and I'd imagine that last bit about Courtney Love is probably the only thing approaching truth in it. But it's still just a heck of a lot of fun.

And, in a rumor that I would much more readily get behind, the co-creators of "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" - which along with "Coraline" shares the distinction of being one of the two 2009 animated movies that were better than Pixar's "Up" - are eyeing a sequel in the form of "Pickles to Pittsburgh," the soon-to-be-released followup children's book by Judith Barrett.

In the new work, according to Publisher's Weekly, the townspeople of Chewandswallow find themselves still cleaning up all that food rained down by Bill Hader's Flint Lockwood. In what should make for a globe-trotting adventure, they come up with a global food distribution plan, hence Eggplants to Ecuador, Chili to Chile and the titular "Pickles to Pittsburgh."

I'm laughing at that already, so here's hoping this somehow happens, and soon. And in the meantime, Comedy Central has released a short clip of next week's episode of "South Park," which will be the rather seriously amazing 200th one. Never strangers to excess, as you'll see from the clip, co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are bringing back every celebrity who has been mercilessly mocked during the show's run for a class-action lawsuit against the city. Nothing but funny there, especially the return of Mecha Streisand. Enjoy, and have a fantastic rest of the weekend.

Goofy with a guarantee of laughs

You know, I always thought Pearl Jam was more than a little overrated at its heyday, mostly I guess because they were just way too earnest for my tastes.

But, over the years, I've warmed a lot to at least Eddie Vedder, mostly because of the great soundtrack for "Into the Wild," but also because their cover of "Last Kiss" is just a little delight.

Anyways, I tell you all that to tell you this: You can stream the new Pearl Jam album, "Backspacer," on the band's MySpace page here. I'm only on song three now (mostly because it has the nasty habit of crashing my Firefox at the end of each track), but it sounds pretty epicly good to me so far.

And on a different subject, it seems that Neil Patrick Harris hosting the Emmys will deliver a bonus for anyone who bothers to tune in for the almost completely suspenseless broadcast. According to Entertainment Weekly's seriously TV-obsessed scribe Michael Ausiello, there will be a "Dr. Horrible"-themed production number about midway through the show. Harris and his castmates already won an Emmy for the Web show "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" created by Joss Whedon. No word yet if Whedon will be involved in tonight's show, but that's still more of a reason to tune in than watching "30 Rock" win 20 awards yet again (though I do love the show.)

But on to the main event: "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" is an almost thoroughly enjoyable animated delight and, blasphemy I know, more entertaining (and frankly that's what matters most to me) than "Up."

What makes it, if not unique, at least original enough to work is the goofy spirit of both the story and its voice actors, who are clearly all in on the fun. I think it helped going in to this one that I really knew just about nothing about the children's story by Judi and Ron Barrett, on which this is based.

The story itself is indeed so silly that you have to wonder how it could possibly work for anyone over the age of 4: Our hero, Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader) is a boy and quickly man who just wants to invent things rather than get any kind of actual job (and really, who doesn't?) He lives in the quickly dying town of Swallow Falls, dying because its most famous export, sardines, are simply disgusting (though I've always kind of liked them.) I don't want to give too much away, but Flint somehow invents a device that turns water into food and, on a grand scale, causes it to rain food down on the town.

You can tell early on that this won't go extremely well, and it surely doesn't, but the jokes do. From the outset, they're not throwaway pop-culture references, but quick-flying bits that fit organicly with the story, from Flint's one-word commands to himself and his helper monkey Steve to the newspaper headline "Sardines are really gross."

The best jokes of all though, largely thanks to Anna Faris as the voice of wannabe-weather girl Sam Sparks, come at the expense of The Weather Channel. For me, the only weather channel I've ever tuned in to has been my front window, so the puns and especially the cut-in to a cute animal just hit their target spot on.

And with Bill Hader and Anna Faris leading the cast, plus Neil Patrick Harris (yes, him again), James Caan, Andy Samberg, Mr. T, Bobb'e J. Thomson (that fantastically foul-mouthed kid from "Role Models") and even Bruce Campbell in the voice cast, this could easily have turned into a hipster-irony disaster, but for the most part they disappear into their parts with ease. Faris (a favorite around here, in case you couldn't tell) fares the best of all, but Bruce Campbell as the mayor of Swallow Falls who jumps all over the opportunity to promote the town with Flint's new creation, is also a hoot. Lauren Graham is somehow in this too, though only for about 90 seconds at the very start, which is about as good a summary as any of just how well her movie career has gone since "Gilmore Girls."

As with any animated movie for kids and goofy-minded adults, there comes a point when the directors, here Phil Lord and Chris Miller, want to tell us the message about gluttony and obesity rather than simply show us through the story. Luckily though, after about a 10-minute dead space (in what is only an 81-minute movie), they quickly realize that any town covered one day with giant hot dogs and the next with kids sliding down giant scoops of ice cream pretty much speaks for itself.

I guess you can tell by now that I had a heck of a lot of fun with this one, but I'll leave you with just one more word about why: I watched it through exactly one pair of glasses, MINE. The colors of "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" jump from the screen, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them unfold in 2-D rather than being muddied with those silly 3-D glasses. Judging from the packed house at our Saturday afternoon screening, I'm apparently far from the only one who doesn't want to pay an extra $2 for this worthless gimmick. Peace out.

Yes, I'll watch Ricky Gervais do ... well, just about anything

You know, I haven't been to a Broadway show in many years, but if I were to go wild and spring for one now it would certainly be what Julie Taymor is cooking up.

The stager of "The Lion King" has been working for some time now on a musical "Spider-Man," an idea so crazy that it should almost certainly work. And now she's got two of the main players from among her regulars.

Even Rachel Wood will play Spidey's paramour Mary Jane Watson, and the great Alan Cumming will play Norman Osborn/the Green Goblin. No word yet on who will play the webcrawler himself.

And, as a final word on all that, a formal apology from me to Ms. Taymor: I avoided seeing "Across the Universe" in theaters because it just looked like such a mess, but as happens what seems more and more every day, I was once again wrong. Yes, it's hippy, dippy and trippy, but it's also a heck of a lot of fun, so I'd definitely recommend a rental if you've never seen it.

And from here on out today, it's all about funny, and two flicks I'm certainly looking forward to.

Somewhere out in the desert of New Mexico (or maybe old Mexico, it's hard to tell), veryfunnymen Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have been working on something called "Paul," and it looks like just my kind of thing. Directed by Greg Mottola, whose last two flicks, "Superbad" and "Adventureland," have just been fantastic in my book, it's an American road movie starring the two of them and an alien they somehow manage to pick up at Area 51 on their way to ComicCon.

And now it's got a Web site you can check out here. It's pretty primitive so far, with only three videos and two collections of flicker pics, but it's still worth checking out and will surely get much better soon. If you visit, among the many things you'll learn is that the flick is set to feature Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio, among other funny folks, so keep your eyes on this one.

But the main event here today is the trailer for Ricky Gervais' fall flick, now titled "The Invention of Lying," which he co-wrote and co-directed with Matthew Robinson. It kind of looks like the most generic sort of romantic comedy, but since it's Gervais, I'm still betting it will bring the funny.

If I can make one more video recommendation, although just about no one in the world bothered to see it, "Ghost Town" is just a thoroughly entertaining little flick. Starring Gervais, a charming Tea Leoni and Wiig as a truly maddening doctor, it's well worth a rental too.

And with that, I'm off to enjoy a probably scorching day at Athfest, featuring Bloodkin, Patterson Hood and more, all for free. Enjoy the trailer, and have a great rest of the weekend. Peace out.

Mottola, Pegg and Frost assembling A-list comedy

After the pure disaster that was Mitch Hurwitz's "Sit Down, Shut Up" (though out of loyalty, I did watch every episode that made it to air, hoping against all evidence that it would somehow get better ... it didn't), I could certainly use a smart and funny animated offering for my summer viewing slate. And I have a feeling Mike Judge has just the right thing with "The Goode Family," coming to ABC at 9 tonight.

According to Variety: What "King of the Hill" did for Texas rednecks, Mike Judge and crew accomplish with Prius-driving tree-huggers in "The Goode Family" -- a smart, wryly funny animated comedy that's going to need a strong word-of-mouth campaign to flourish.

Sounds great to me, and it also features wannabe freak Lindsay Weir, a k a Linda Cardellini, so I'm definitely in.

But the coolest news I saw this morning is about what Greg Mottola, who's quickly becoming one of my favorite directors, is cooking up starting very soon.

But first a look at his track record. As for this year, I'd say there have already been a surprising amount of good-to-great movies, with my list so far being: "Coraline," "The International," "Watchmen," "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail," "Duplicity," "Sin Nombre," "Moon" and "Tyson," with the best two of all being "Star Trek" and Mottola's "Adventureland." Though it thoroughly tanked at the box office, that flick starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart and a very funny Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig was just a real charmer that moved at a naturally entertaining pace.

And before that, of course, he made for my money the best comedy of 2007 with "Superbad." I just watched that one again with that instant "play" feature on Netflix (man, is that addictive), and I have to say the B story about the cops played by Hader and Seth Rogen, which I initially thought was the far weaker of the two, has really grown on me. And, coincidentally enough given what's to follow here, I'm now waiting for "Spaced," starring Simon Pegg, to arrive in my Netflix mail, hopefully today.

Now to finally get to the main course, Mottola is next directing veryfunnyguys Pegg and Nick Frost in something called "Paul," from a Pegg/Frost script. The road trip flick is about two British geeks (Pegg and Frost, natch) who set out on a road trip from Comic Con to Area 51 and manage to encounter an actual alien named "Paul." And the flick, set to start shooting in June, is quickly attracting an A-list cast.

Rogen will provide the voice of Paul, and he'll be joined by Wiig, Hader, Jason Bateman and the seemingly ubiquitous Jane Lynch. As I said earlier, Mottola is rapidly becoming one of my favorites, and with this crew I don't see how this can be anything but extremely funny, so keep your eyes on it. And with that, I have to get ready for the job that still actually pays me a little scratch each week. Peace out.

Take a familiar but fun trip to "Adventureland"

A film that rates right up there with Hollywood's best romances. Kristen Stewart deserves an Oscar nomination, as does writer-director Greg Mottola.

I offer that little bit of hyperbole from a Rotten Tomatoes critic who shall remain nameless as entry to discuss Greg Mottola's "Adventureland," a movie that's refreshingly and almost thoroughly entertaining as much for what it is as for what it isn't.

Despite the sentiments expressed above, it certainly isn't a grand romance. And neither, despite the very funny bits you've probably seen in advance from Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, is it a straight-out comedy that will often have you laughing out loud.

But, at its best, it is a sweet little slice of life, reflected through the romantic lens of memory, and for that it stands out from the current crop of R-rated comedies even as it embraces many of its conventions.

In what I believe is at least a semi-autobiographical tale, Mottola takes us to the titular theme park, where James Brennan (a pensively scruffy Jesse Eisenberg, in a role not removed much at all from what he played in "The Squid and the Whale") is forced to seek employment the summer after college when his parents (Jack Gilpin and Wendie Malick) inform him they won't be able to fund his planned trip to Europe or, well, much of anything.

If we all haven't been exactly there, we've probably been close. For me it was a job at a "Mexican" restaurant ("Mexican" in quotes because, though we did indeed serve something close to Mexican cuisine, it was a joint called Nacho Pete's owned by and almost exclusively staffed by gringos) where, like our hero here, I did rather remarkably crappy work and still had a blast with some seriously fun people. It's the kind of job you know you don't want now, but that had little charms (like drinking 50-cent Mexican beers each night when we closed) that make it a whole lot better in retrospect than it probably ever was.

But I digress a little, all in the hopes of setting up just what makes Mottola's movie so charming. When it works, which is very often, it's because what he delivers is exactly what the premise promises, a truly terrible job where you find the kind of people you'll remember for the rest of your life, and it's all (at least until the rather rushed ending) told at a natural pace that (for me at least) lingered in all the right places.

Though the movie opens and just about closes with 'Mats tunes (never a problem in my book), it gets its heart and tone from Lou Reed, and specifically the Velvet Underground song "Pale Blue Eyes." Like that tune, it has a melodic appeal that masks some serious dysfunction that's simmering just below the surface, much of which comes from the aforementioned Ms. Stewart, who is indeed the strongest player here. As an NYU student who also works at the park and is dealing with some serious family issues while at the same time making the kind of mistake (with Ryan Reynolds as the park mechanic) that she seems to already know will take her nowhere good, she just tells you more with a look than she ever did as she spent the entirety of "Twilight" (yes, I did see that) with a vacant stare.

And it's one scene set to "Pale Blue Eyes" that gives the movie a needed sense of urgency, or at least longing, as it's playing in the background when Stewart's Em gives Eisenberg's James a ride home and he can't took his eyes off of her (and who can blame him?) If their bumbling romance (which I won't tell you too much more about) gives the movie it's heart, the supporting amusement park players give the flick a kind of genuine sweetness that we see far too rarely in movies nowadays.

Hader and Wiig (as an aside, if you want to see a very funny supporting performance from her, rent "Ghost Town" now) are as funny as advertised, but as a married couple who run the park, they also just fit together perfectly, and all of their bits meld organically into the movie rather than stand out as forced hilarity. Martin Starr (who among all the Apatow players certainly deserves his own starring role by now, right?) is painfully dead-on as the kind of intellectual misfit who will actually use Gogol to try and pitch woo. And Margerita Levieva, as the park temptress Lisa P., provided the only moment when I laughed so loud that people turned around and stared at me, when you see how exactly she lures people onto riding the Musical Express.

Now, like probably this review, Mottola's movie does go on a bit too long, and it's ending feels more than a bit tacked on. Even so, it's easily the best movie I've seen this year (with the other four that I'd consider very-good-to-great being "Coraline," "Watchmen," "The International" and "Duplicity.") And not surprisingly, I suppose, it's just getting mauled at the box office, taking in a measly $2 million Friday compared to an astonishing $30 million in one day for "Fast & Furious."

But if you can handle a movie that takes it very sweet time getting to a familiar but entertaining place, please go see "Adventureland," and if you've visited there already, please feel free to share your impressions with me. Peace out.

What's Zack Snyder up to after "Watchmen"?

The picture above is one of nine in a gallery online at Vanity Fair that's well worth checking out here. This "Honeymooners" shot had to be my favorite because Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Leslie Mann and Jason Bateman are all just sensationally funny people, but there's plenty more to enjoy - including Seth Rogen as Frida Kahlo - in the gallery.

And speaking of seriously funny, a hearty huzzah to Spike TV (which I'm fairly certain I haven't tuned in to up to this point) for reviving a true American hero of physical comedy, the great Super Dave Osborne. If you grew up in the '80s like I did, Super Dave was the king of failed stunts, and now he's about to bring it all back again for four episodes he will write and of course star in this summer. Definitely keep your eyes out for that.

And he's not the only very funny guy who's about to make a comeback. Dave Chappelle sidekick Charlie Murphy - a k a Eddie's currently funnier brother - will launch his show "Charlie Murphy's Crash Comedy" on something called Crackle.com beginning March 20. And please, please, please Mr. Murphy, just go right ahead and steal the concept of "Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories." It was the funniest thing on Dave's show, and he apparently won't be needing it anytime soon.

And since this is already the longest intro having nothing to do with the headline, why not more really funny from Kevin Smith, who proves there's not only life after making a porno, but a real cash cow.

For the record, I really liked "Zack and Miri Make a Porno." It was sweet and funny all at once, and that thoroughly disgusting anal sex joke at the end - I suppose it was the "money shot" - just made me laugh out loud. Almost as funny but thoroughly depressing, however, is that - for Wal-Mart, at least - Mr. Smith and those Weinstein boys have stripped the "porno" from the title completely for DVD shelves, labeling it simply "Zack and Miri." Sad. Really sad.

Now, even though that flick only made a rather paltry $31 million in its theatrical run, Mr. Smith is about to hit the big time. Warner Brothers has signed him to direct the detective comedy "A Couple of Cops," which was apparently at one point, and in Smith's hands probably will again be, known as "A Couple of Dicks." It will star Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. In the flick, according to the trades, the duo will track down a stolen baseball card, rescue a Mexican beauty and deal with gangsters and laundered drug money.

I can't find anything but good news there. For proof that Willis can be a great comedic actor with the right material, look no further than "Bandits" with Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchett (well worth a rental if you can still find it.) And Tracy Morgan, though Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin try to steal all the acclaim, is the biggest fool on "30 Rock" and plays it with gusto. That recent bit with Dr. Spaceman about how diabetes might give him the chance to replace one of his feet with a wheel was just priceless.

OK, enough of that. Since this is "Watchmen" week, it should be all about Zack Snyder, and I promise that from here on out it mostly will be. It may be old news to most of the world, but the item I came across this morning was the first I had heard about "Sucker Punch," his next flick after "Watchmen."

And it sounds thoroughly intriguing. The new news is that "Mamma Mia!" star Amanda Seyfried is about to sign on to lead the mostly female cast, with Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, Evan Rachel Wood and Emma Stone all eyeing the project too.

So, what is it? Well, here's the description from Variety: Set in the 1950s, "Punch" follows a girl who is confined to a mental institution by her stepfather, who intends to have her lobotomized in five days. While there, she imagines an alternative reality to hide her from the pain, and in that world, she begins planning her escape, needing to steal five objects to help get her out before she is deflowered by a vile man.

Sounds like it steals more than a bit from "Pan's Labyrinth," but I love movies about the imagination, especially when it's needed to survive. And Zack Snyder has already proven that he has a pretty wild one himself, and he promises he'll use it to fill "Sucker Punch" to create something like " 'Alice in Wonderland' with machine guns," so definitely stay tuned for more on this.

And finally today, a little catching up. No less than two of my co-workers asked me yesterday if I had seen the new trailer for McG's "Terminator Salvation," which will unspool in front of "Watchmen" (which I'll be watching in Imax!) this weekend. I had to admit I had not, but as you can see below, it does indeed - as they led me to believe - kick all kinds of ass. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.

Dear "Sarah Marshall": Have a heart

My heart really wanted to rave about Jason Segel's first starring role on the big screen, and it would have won out if only his flick had a little more heart itself. Without it, the movie too often just falls apart.

But lets start with the good stuff first, because there's almost enough of it to sustain a 90-minute movie (instead of one that, like "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," clocks in at just over two hours.)

When the story sticks to its four core stars, it does indeed have plenty of charm. Segel, who you probably know by now exposes his wang-dang-doodle (more on that later) and a lot more in this one, is at his best in awkward situations, and for a guy who spends the first 30 minutes or so crying most of the time, he's very funny here (listen, in particular, for the best use of the "The Muppet Show" theme I've heard in many years.)

And I've made it clear in this space many, many times that I have a weakness for Kristen Bell, so yes I'm admittedly grading on a curve. But, as the titular bitch of the title, she does manage to make Sarah Marshall a well-rounded - if extremely selfish - bimbo (and her rhythmic use of the word "bullshit" near the end is just about perfect comedy.) More importantly, her performance is more than strong enough to make you see why she would be with Segel's slacker for five years before breaking his heart, and therefore get you a lot more invested in the meltdown that follows under the Hawaiian sun.

Mila Kunis, as the requisite other woman who gives the story its rather conventional feel, is certainly sexy enough, but special kudos go to Russell Brand, who makes his Alduous Snow just a first-rate git. I had never heard of the dude before this flick. A quick check of the IMDB shows he was in "Penelope" this year, but I managed to forget all of that flick shortly after it ended. I won't spoil it for you, but his music video (as the leader of the band "Infant Sorrow") is the funniest thing I've seen on screen this year, and just the finest kind of cheese.

So, if the movie has all that going for it, what's the problem? Well, the Judd Apatow equation only works for me when it's got almost as much heart as it does raunch (hence my undying love for "Superbad.") When you just pile on the latter, as "Sarah Marshall" does with its supporting players, you get a second-rate Will Ferrell movie or, worse, something like "My Best Friend's Girl," for which - thanks to projector problems - we had to watch the trailer twice before "Sarah Marshall." If I may digress for just a second, as someone who doesn't watch much standup comedy, I have to ask: Is Dane Cook really funny at all? If so, I've clearly missed it.

In "Sarah Marshall," only the very funny Bill Hader manages to rise above the mediocre material to fare well. Jonah Hill, who was just perfect in "Superbad," only manages to annoy here as a sycophantic waiter, and I just can't understand how they could manage to so thoroughly waste someone as good as Paul Rudd in such a stupid role.

But unfortunately, as much as it pains me, I have to heap the most scorn on Macon's own Jack McBrayer. I've liked him quite a bit on the few episodes I've seen of Tina Fey's "30 Rock," but his dumb redneck shtick on the big screen (the variety here is "dumb Christian redneck) is just quickly wearing out its welcome. I know he can do a lot better, but I've yet to see it in movies.

And finally, getting back to Jason Segel's quickly-becoming-infamous hanging of brain at the opening, the bottom line for me is always was it funny, and I can say that in the most squirmworthy way possible yes, it was. It probably works so well because, as Segel told the Associated Press, it actually happened to him almost exactly like that:

"This naked breakup commenced and, honest to God, maybe this is part of the problem, all I kept thinking was, 'This is ... hilarious.' "

It pretty much is, and if you're keeping score, be warned that he does a brief reprise in the third act (but by then, the shock is clearly gone.) And the score for "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"? Well, despite my complaints it's the best big-screen comedy so far this year - which admittedly may not be saying much - and well worth at least a matinee. Peace out.