by Thomas Ferguson

Breaking up is hard to do...especially when your ex is America's Sweetheart and stars on a hit television show. That's the premise of the new comedy from Judd Apatow, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Newcomer Jason Segel writes and stars as a loveable loser mending his broken heart.

Segel plays Peter Bretter, the musical composer on the hit show Crime Scene which stars his girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). As the show and Sarah become more and more popular, Peter finds himself being pushed aside more and more.

Tired of his under-achieving attitude, Sarah dumps Peter and leaves him devastated. On the advice of his brother-in-law Brian (Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader), Peter packs his bags and heads for Hawaii, trying to forget the pain of the break-up.

Unfortunately, he ends up at the same resort as Sarah, who is vacationing with her new rock star boyfriend Aldous Snow (British comic Russell Brand). Instead of running away, Peter is coerced into staying and facing the music by Rachel (That 70's Show's Mila Kunis), the hotel’s customer service clerk.

Seeing how miserable Peter is, Rachel buddies up to him and before long the two begin to fall for one another. Peter finally starts to forget Sarah, but seeing him go on with his life forces Sarah to re-evaluate her actions. She begins to ponder the thought of getting back with Peter, putting Peter and all involved in some very sticky situations.

I am a huge fan of the Apatow family. A couple of them make appearances here including Superbad's Jonah Hill and The 40-Year-Old Virgin's Paul Rudd. Both of these guys are funny, which made me believe this movie would be absolutely hilarious. Also, early critical reviews have been extremely positive. Based on these factors, I just knew I would love this movie. Unfortunately, after walking out, all I could muster up is a moderate like.

There are some wonderful scenes that made me laugh out loud, but the movie was not as funny as people are saying. There were some very shocking scenes, mainly the ones with Segel's frontal nudity. Both Bell and Kunis gave really solid performances. And, Segel makes are great debut in a lead role, but there was just something about this movie that left me unsatisfied.

The best scenes were the clips from Sarah's show Crime Scene. If you watch any of the police procedural shows like CSI or Law & Order, you will love these scenes. The dialogue is absolutely priceless.

Other than that, this movie is only moderately funny. It has likeable characters, but more could have been done with them. It's a funny movie, but I wanted more.