Movies

Apatow is back in classic form with his latest producing effort. This is yet another crowd-pleasing comedy that will make you laugh and squirm the whole way through — usually at the same time — with just the right balance of the salty and the sweet. It also signals an introduction of sorts to a couple of engaging talents.

Jason Segel, co-star of Apatow's Knocked Up and the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, settles comfortably into his first screenplay and first leading role as a big, likable puppy dog of a guy who gets dumped by his glamorous TV-star girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell).

And then there's Russell Brand, a British comic who will probably be new to American audiences, but not for long. He absolutely runs away with this movie — tough to do, since it's populated with big personalities — as a preening rock star who's less vapid and more verbal than he initially appears. After the break up, Segel's Peter Bretter jets off to Hawaii to get over Sarah, but instead ends up at the same resort where she just happens to be vacationing with her new boyfriend, Brand's lanky Lothario Aldous Snow. Old Apatow friends Paul Rudd and Jonah Hill show up in supporting parts.