Filmic Pulp

So I’m super late on this one, but fuck you.

This movie is Jason Segal’s first leading role after having a bit part in Knocked Up–I can’t remember if he was in any other Apatow movies. And he does a pretty good job.

So this movie essentially bucks the trend of a romantic comedy somewhat in that it’s not boy-meets-girl, boy-gets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-keeps-girl. Or so you think. I mean, it ends up being that way, but only from the second storyline of Not Sarah Marshall as played by Mila Kunis.

In the Sarah Marshall storyline it’s: boy-loses-girl, girl-tries-to-get-boy-back-but-he-is-still-ridiculously-heart-broken, fin. And this is a good thing because, as the movie goes on, we realize that Sarah Marshall is a shallow bitch who was only dating the Rock Star because he was more famous.

And oh the Rock Star character. He reminds me a little too much of Devendra Banhart, but he’s also funny sometimes. I couldn’t pin down whether he was English or a Kiwi but it turns out he was English–and not doing a very good accent. He’s pompous and famous and probably a little gay. The actor did a good job.

But as I write this, trying to force out character descriptions, I can’t help but think of the main flaw of this movie: length. It sags under its own weight in the middle and even Jonah Hill’s character gets annoying (and he’s one of my favorite actors). There is too much time spent on ancillary characters and it results in the movie feeling overlong and completely forced. Throughout the center, as with Knocked Up and Superbad and Dewey Cox, there is a sense of “when is this shit going to end?” because you have already established everything you need to establish in order to take the story on towards climax and denouement and yet the movie chugs on, fleshing things out that need not be fleshed out.

However, if you can look past the minor characters that get too much screentime, you’ll be able to have a good time watching this movie. Mila Kunis, in what seems to be her first major role on film, does an excellent job as the rebound and new love interest that takes Segal’s mind off of the blonde bitch.

Everyone played their parts well, and there are a lot of solid jokes that keep you laughing, but there is just too much for this movie.

And, yes, I know, I seem to be blowing the horn that every other goddam movie reviewer blew, but maybe they were right when they said it. So fuck you.