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Created Apr 19, 2008 05:44AM PST • Edited Sep 19, 2023 02:24AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Perfect 5.0

   Laff-a-minute comedy, perhaps the best one yet from golden producer Judd Apatow and his repertory players. Delightfully surprising from scene-to-scene, FSM mints three movie stars – two beauties and a charming beast: Mila Kunis, smolderingly beautiful, possesses the best voice since Kathleen Turner; Russell Brand, a one-man British Invasion; and, of course, writer-star Jason Segel, the big lunk we come to care about as he proceeds through an orgy of self-deprecation.

4. Acting

   Really Great 4.5

   Three of the four leads are irreplaceable in this perfect comedy. Oddly, only Kristen Bell as Sarah Marshall fades into the picture rather than jumping out.

   Jason Segel – playing the Seth Rogen role – ably fulfills the shlumpish dreams of semi-studs everywhere. Segel brings height, length and a strong chin to the physical attraction game, the rest of him being doughy and sleepy. Nonetheless, he’s a triple threat when it comes to the funny game: his timing is spot on (of course he wrote the jokes), plus he brings physical and musical comedy talents into the picture.

   Mila Kunis doesn’t have to stretch to play the girl of any thoughtful guy’s dreams. The rare heartthrob who conveys intelligence and character as much as sex appeal, she brings to mind Angelina Jolie as an apt comparison. Like I said, we’ve got a new movie star on our hands.

   Russell Brand is too perfect and too much fun as The Rock Star boyfriend. His biggest challenge going forward will be to avoid typecasting. Then again, he doesn’t seem to worry much, so perhaps typecasting will be just fine. I can see it now, in the Year 2025 (if man is still alive…) Russell Brand in “The Rock Star Chronicles V: The Groupies Strike Back!”

   The supporting cast are equally stellar, with a motley crew of native and haole Hawaiians who give the movie texture and even more laughs.

   Not to mention Jonah Hill, who delivers his obnoxious twerp act to good effect in a small dose.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

   Kristen Bell was Good, Mila Kunis was Perfect.

7. Female Costars Perfect 5.0

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

10. Film

    Perfect 5.0

    Comedy – when it works – trumps everything. Oh man, does the comedy ever work here. This movie slays. We’re talking Superbad funny. Say no more, say no more.

11. Direction Perfect 5.0

12. Play Perfect 5.0

    Comedies have three kinds of lines: set-ups, kills and duds. The ratio of kills to duds in this movie must be nearly 100 to 1, while each set-up feeds a string of kills. The movie is flat-out hilarious, stuffed with pop culture references and send-ups that basically all work as jokes. Plus it uses the three elements of humor (repetition, surprise and embarrassment) to great effect: repetition, such as when Jason Segel’s buddy (played to great effect by Bill Hader) repeatedly and more insistently implores him to be rid of Sarah Marshall; surprise, such as when an awkward situation triggers a hilarious flashback; embarrassment, such as when Segel dangles his dongle in an attempt to avoid getting dumped.

13. Music Perfect 5.0

    Inside of You by Infant Sorrow (what a perfect lampoon for a band name) is a better and funnier song than anything from Spinal Tap. There, I’ve said it.

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0

    Turtle Bay on the North Shore of Oahu provides the perfect setting for this Blue Hawaii movie. Check out their webcam.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.6

    Apatow productions reliably push the raunchiness envelope, but get away with it because they are equal opportunity offenders that never fail to get the laughs. FSM upholds the tradition, with gratuitous swinging dick nudity being the most notable addition to the canon.

17. Sex Titillating 2.0

    The movie’s only frontal nudity (full or otherwise) is of Jason Segel’s shlong, a breakthrough of sorts considering the patriarchy that is Hollywood. OTOH, the two ingenues are spared any real nudity, though their sexual vocalizations are right up there with Meg Ryan’s from Harry and Sally. Aural sex, anyone?

18. Violence Gentle 1.0

19. Rudeness Salty 1.7

21. Reality

    Glib 1.4

    The movie is ridiculous, but its situations, predicaments and self-serving desires are entirely recognizable, without which it wouldn’t be remotely as funny.

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.8

23. Biological Glib 1.3

24. Physical Natural 1.0