REEL CRITIC:

The history of cinematic comedy has at times been more or less dominated by a single producing entity. Blake Edwards of “Pink Panther” fame certainly had a great run of success and more recently the Farrelly Brothers (“There’s Something About Mary,” “Shallow Hal”) produced a string of hits.

Even when measured against the impressive track records of other film legends, producer Judd Apatow has to be considered a phenomenon. In less than five years Apatow has produced (and sometimes directed and co-wrote) such box-office successes as “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” “The 40-Year Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up” and “Superbad.”

Apatow’s latest production, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is in theaters and may be his best film yet. Jason Segel, who also wrote the screenplay, stars as Peter, a music composer dating TV star Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). Peter writes background music for Sarah’s show, an unintentionally hilarious clone of “CSI.”

Peter lives a carefree existence, hardly ever leaving his apartment except to appear at red carpet events with Sarah where he winds up holding her purse while trying to stay out of the way of the paparazzi. His dream of writing a puppet musical about Dracula is on hold after being scoffed at by Sarah.

Peter is completely taken by surprise when Sarah unceremoniously dumps him after being together five years. After some verbal sparring Sarah finally admits she’s seeing someone else. Later, Peter is watching “Entertainment Tonight” when the lead story is Sarah’s new romance with British rocker and infamous lothario Aldous Snow (Russell Brand).

Peter tries to ease the pain by drinking and seducing clueless one-night stands. Unable to shake his funk, Peter is talked into taking a vacation by his stepbrother Brian (Bill Hader). Peter arbitrarily chooses Hawaii and flies there without even making hotel reservations. Trying to check into a beachfront hotel, Peter is stunned to run into Sarah who is having a romantic getaway with Aldous. Embarrassed for him, the desk clerk Rachel (Mila Kunis) arranges for Peter to stay a few days in an unoccupied suite.

Unfortunately Hawaii turns out to be romance central, overrun with honeymooners and wedding parties. This obviously darkens Peter’s mood and he leans on the hotel staff for support. Eventually Peter takes a shine to Rachel, but they are both survivors of bad relationships and are wary to the point of being emotionally unavailable. All this is played against the backdrop of Sarah and her preening rock star showing up at every turn.

While “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” certainly earns its “R” rating (for sexual content, language and some graphic nudity), the plot transcends the raunch and ultimately ends up being a rather sweet love story. In this respect the film is very much like its predecessor, “The 40-Year Old Virgin.”

Segel, with his average guy good looks and awkward charm, is very believable as the spurned lover and the type of fellow whom perfect strangers want to help. Brand is laugh-out-loud funny as the recovering alcoholic vegetarian bad boy. Snow is a richly drawn character with a quirky charm that saves the rocker from simply being Peter’s enemy.

Bell gives some depth to the vapid Sarah Marshall who turns out to have some redeeming qualities after all. The real revelation here is Mila Kunis, best known for “That ‘70s Show.” Kunis has matured into a beautiful young woman who portrays Rachel as a sweet but wary girl who eventually gets under Peter’s skin.

“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” has employed a clever ad campaign with highly visible placement virtually everywhere. The film has received good reviews and like previous Apatow productions should have “legs” and continue to do business for the next several weeks. If you liked any of Apatow’s previous efforts, you will most likely love “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” There are at least four more Apatow productions completed, filming or in pre-production. Hopefully, the hits will keep on coming.

VAN NOVACK reviews films for the Independent.