Jason Segel — I Like You, Man

So last night I’m on my couch rolling through my 800 channels of crap — when there it was, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” Oh no. And it just started 10 minutes ago. Real trouble.

I don’t always click on it when I see it, because I often can’t get out of it. I turn into an addict just stopping by the crackhouse, “Ok Bob, just one hit then I gotta go.” Four days later your family has called the Police because they can’t find you, again.

I took a deep breath and clicked in. Within minutes I was pulled under by the peculiar vortex that is Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

I even read the screenplay after watching it this time (written by, you guessed it — Jason Segel). While it’s certainly good, it doesn’t jump off the page like some do. What make FSM so darn watchable is Jason Segel. Not only is he in almost every scene, but his willingness (and skill) to play the sad sack is peerless.

And this is a 6’4" dude whose nickname in high school was “Dr Dunk” because of his ferocious dunks on the basketball court. He’s a big guy who can play small.

He brings a bucketful of sensitivity, empathy, cynicism and sheer everyman-ness to the role. Many actors try hard to pull off these simple sounding attributes, but fail miserably. You can see them acting from the time their limo drops them off at set. Some won’t even consider these type of roles because it makes them look soft.

And what a joy to see Segel’s friends just having a ball playing small character parts. Jonah Hill as the obsequious maitre d’. Paul Rudd as the dark haired, pasty skinned surf instructor (so out of place it’s hilarious). Bill Hader as his condescending brother.

Then we have Russell Brand as Sarah’s new beau — perfect! He’s the classic guy you would absolutely hate to see your previous girlfriend with — British accent, long hair, sinewy body. (Segel and Brand obviously hit it off, because the next movie Segel wrote was “Get him to the Greek” starring Russell Brand.)

Let’s not forget the luminous Mila Kunis as his rebound girl. Sure it’s a bit of a stretch that after getting dumped by Sarah Marshall, Segel just happens to hit it off with one of the most beautiful women in the world (it’s a Rom-Com folks, just go with it).

But then Kunis actually sells it. “Peter, look. When I first saw you, I thought, why am I so attracted to this guy? I don’t know him, he’s not my type, frankly he’s way doughier than the guys I normally go for.”

In what could be my favorite scene, when she makes Segel get up and sing at the local bar — just look at her face. You can’t define attraction to someone, it just happens — and it just happened to Mila!

And Kristen Bell just nails it as Sarah Marshall. Of course you’d be miserable if she left you, just look at her! She’s the picture of smoking hot petiteness (pre-kids, pre-Dax). In a sense, she’s the villain of the movie, and yet by the end we feel for her plight as well. She goes through almost as many character arcs as Segel, which is great writing. This is a movie about both of them.

Toward the end of the movie, when they share a rare moment alone together, he pleads for her honesty about the breakup.

Segel, “Can you please just cut the bullshit, you owe me that.”

Bell, “Fine. Because Peter, it got hard to keep taking care of you when you stopped taking care of yourself.”

Ouch! It’s like the BoDeans once sang, “It’s hard to love a losin’ man, much harder than you think, you have to pull yourself away before you both start to stink.”

Multiple-Watch-Ability. Isn’t that the true test of a great comedy? Can you watch it again and again?

Time being what it is and all, I’m not a multiple viewer kind of guy. There’s only a handful of these movies in my rotation:

• (the original) Bad News Bears
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
• You, Me and Dupree
• Withnail and I
• 500 Days of Summer
• Lars and the Real Doll
• The Other Guys
• Waiting…
• The Big Lebowski
• Dazed and Confused
• Joint Adventure (ok, I wrote & directed that one)

As delightful as Forgetting Sarah Marshall is, Jason Segel is so much more than that. He also wrote the aforementioned “Get Him to the Greek”, “The Muppets”, “The Five Year Engagement” (so underrated!), “Sex Tape” (much better than the reviews) and “The Billion Brick Race” (now filming).

Not to mention the fact that he’s co-written 6 novels! (with Kirsten Miller)

And don’t even get me started on how great he was in, “I Love You, Man” or “Jeff, who Lives at Home.”

In 2015, when he took on the challenging role of playing the late, oh so great writer David Foster Wallace - he not only pulled it off, but proved to everyone he’s much more than a one trick pony, Rom-Com guy.

Jason Segel — I like you, Man.

(Here’s his performance of Dracula’s Lament on The Late Show in 2009.)