Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

I'm a sucker for time travel movies. When I see one offered up as a romantic comedy, well, I enjoy romantic comedies. I just prepare myself for extra goofiness and extra schmaltz. I didn't prepare myself for this film, however. And you know what? That's pretty cool, too. This film is not one of those formulaic, Hollywood genre films. Thank god. I knew going in that this film would be a at least a little off from the standard fare, as it's from the producers of Little Miss Sunshine, which did prepare me for a more 'quirky' character driven type of film.
This film offered me a whole group of really vulnerable characters, each in her or his own way. in one way or another, all of the main characters are socially on the fringe, whether they realize it or not. We start off, almost with cardboard cut-outs of people, but over the course of the film they reveal themselves to be real and interesting. Real is my nice way of saying, "fucked up like me and everyone I know". The course of the film presents some standard situations that arise in romantic comedies, and then reaches different conclusions, but not for the sake of being different, for the sake of being true to the story and the characters. It's great to watch a film where you see the characters develop into someone who cares for and is cared about by those around them. I think the actors really did a splendid job with pulling that off. They accomplish it by being genuine. They could have pulled this off campy like The Goonies, but instead keep it true to the reality of the film like Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind.
And nice use of Star Wars references. I love when Kenneth asks Darius if she has heard of the Star Wars movies and she just rolls her eyes, but has second thoughts and answers that she has, knowing that Kenneth is not trying to take a poke at her by the question, but that he really doesn't know which he illustrates in the following moments. Plus the debate about stormtroopers. Ah, my nerdcore is replenished.

Safety Not Guaranteed on IMDb

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

I avoided this movie for a long time, because I thought it was something that it wasn't. In my head, I got the trailer mixed up with all those Dane Cooke or Paul Rudd "bromance" flicks that all, to a one, just totally suck. That is not this movie. In fact, if I would have known Kristen Bell was in it, I would have so watched it, except I did know, but I wasn't a fan of hers yet, not having watched Veronica Mars until after this movie had come out. That makes sense, right? Sure. I did know that Mila Kunis was in this film, so I had almost watched it based on that, except that I think she was dating McCaully Culkin at the time so that probably mitigated against her, at least a little bit. The only other people I knew in it were all Saturday Night Live alums, and well that isn't really a selling point.
Jason Segel has good chemistry with both Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis. Lucky bastard.  Of course he also gets naked with both of them, not counting sex scenes where he presumably wasn't naked and where both of the young ladies are filmed in such a way as to not show anything. It's kind of funny, because Segel actually does full frontal nudity in this movie - twice. Um, maybe I should mention that I'm watching the 'unrated' extended version. There is a photo of Kunis's character flashing that is a plot device, but I'm pretty sure it's her head on another woman's body.
Ruseell Brand as the other guy in Sarah Marshall's life is brilliant. I've read interviews that say he wasn't really acting that he is like the character. In which case I say, huzzah to the person in charge of casting. Also quite funny is Jack McBrayer who I loved on 30 Rock. Interestingly this character is very religious just like his Kenneth character, but not so stupid.
What's really the most interesting parts of the movie, though, are the two fake television shows that the Marshall character is involved with. The first with Billy Baldwin and the second with Jason Bateman, both of whom play themselves in the movie playing characters on these fictitious shows. The Baldwin show is a CSI spoof called "Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime" and is CSI but with every line full of intentional and/or obvious sexual innuendo. The Bateman show is called "Animal Instinct" where he's a cop and Sarah Marshall plays an animal psychic. They both look totally ridiculous, but honestly, if they were ever made, I would probably watch them, because I like procedurals, in the first case, and I like Bateman, in the second case. Interestingly, the shows were both on NBC and not some made up network. I know that Segel has ties to NBC, I find it interesting that they would let him use their logo, but then I guess that any advertisement is good advertisement (see above where I said I would probably watch the shows).
So, I'm painting a pretty rosy picture but there are some awkward moments, and not just the good kind played for comic or dramatic value. There were several scenes where I was embarassed for the actor and Segel in his role as the writer. There are two actors in this that I really don't like - Bill Hader and Jonah Hill. I'm sure they're both great guys, so let me instead say that I don't like their characters. Not in this or in anything else. Sorry. They both annoy the fuck out of me. Some of my dislike for Hader is misplaced dislike for Jim Carey because they remind me of each other in so many ways. But, there are a couple of roles of Carey's that I quite like, so I will hold out hope that someday Hader and Hill will not so utterly disapoint.
I don't want to end on a downer, so I've been saving the bestest mostest awesomest thing for last - Dracula the musical. Why do I have the feeling that Segel wrote more than just the couple of songs we see performed? And puppets? That totally rocked! I would love to go see that musical. I love that he made it a comedy and that Dracula has more than a passing resemblance to the Count from Sesame Street and that Van Helsing has no resemblance to Hugh Jackman.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall at IMDb