- FIFTY PILLS - WIDESCREEN (DVD MOVIE)
Based on the propaganda film from 1936 that has become a cult hit, Reefer Madness is the height of camp entertainment! Framed as a "documentary", a straight-laced high school principal (Alan Cumming) seeks to impart his wisdom about the demon weed by telling a frightful tale about the fate of two innocent teens who fall under the spell of the drugs. Filled with outrageously funny and musical performances by Neve Campbell, Christian Campbell, Kristen Bell and Steven Weber, Reefer Madness is the feel good event of the year!If the idea of making a musical out of Roger Corman's Z-movie quickie
The Little Shop of Horrors sounded weird, stick around for the all-singing, all-dancing
Reefer Madness. Deliriously based on the notorious 1936 anti-pot social-guidance film, this is an ultra-campy enterprise that lands somewhere between
Rocky Horror! and a John Waters comedy. Christian Campbell and the spritzy Kristen Bell play the innocent teens lured into a soul-sapping cloud of marijuana dependence by pencil-mustached pusher Steven Weber and his long-suffering dame, Ana Gasteyer. The cast includes femme fatale Amy Spanger and a cameo by Neve Campbell, who dances her way through one sequence. The musical was written and composed by Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney, who re-create some of the kookiest scenes from the original movie ("Faster! Faster!"). Their funniest idea is to frame the sordid saga with a black-and-white story of a government agent showing a public-service film to horrified small-town citizens; he's played by the reliably sinister Alan Cumming, who also pops up in a variety of guises in the film-within-the-film. The only problem with this made-for-Showtime version of the stage show is that camp tends to wear thin, especially at 109 minutes, despite the expert song parodies. Even the original hour-long
! Reefer Madness got old quick.
--Robert HortonPeter ! (Jason S egel) is a struggling musician who finds his world turned upside down when his TV celebrity girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), dumps him for a tragically hip rock star. It’s the hysterically funny look at how far one man will go to forget a girl â€" and all the fun he finds along the way! Breaking up is hard to do--but that doesn't mean you can't have some belly laughs about it.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall provides that rare treat: a romantic comedy about breakups, that is both romantic and funny. The laughs, especially from writer-star Jason Segel, are both heartfelt and raunchy, and the film is just unexpected enough that it keeps the viewer's attention till the end. The touches of producer Judd Apatow, who's famously retooled rom-coms to appeal to guys as much as women, are woven throughout the film, but Segel's script, reportedly based on many of his own experiences, is fresh and original. And adult.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall features male genitali! a laffs presented in unexpected and human ways (the nude breakup scene is played for giggles but also deep poignancy), and the language and sex scenes are strictly for grownups--and rightly so. Segel's script, and his performance as Peter, show that he understands the true nature of adult re! lationships, which provides the refreshing difference between this film and some of Apatow's other crude creations. The cast is sublime; Kristen Bell (
Veronica Mars) plays title character Sarah, a self-absorbed actress, and Russell Brand is her new British honey who accompanies her to--what are the chances?--the exact same Hawaiian resort as Peter, who's nursing his broken heart. Mila Kunis plays Rachel, the resort employee who gives Peter a reason to hope, and Paul Rudd is the surfing instructor who gives him his own brand of heartfelt advice ("When life gives you lemons, just say 'F--- the lemons' and bail," he says cheerily). The pacing is screwball, and the absurdities fly ! (a "Dracula" musical puppet show, and a surprisingly lovely Ha! waiian v ersion of "Nothing Compares 2 U"). Nothing the viewer will forget any time soon.--
A.T. Hurley Get to Know the Cast From Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Kristen Bell (Sarah Marshall) | 
Jason Segel (Peter Bretter) | 
Mila Kunis (Rachel Jansen) |
Beyond Forgetting Sarah Marshall on DVD
More from the Apatow Gang | 
Get it on Blu-ray | 
More Romantic Comedies |
Stills from Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Click for larger image) Official Selection - Tribeca Film Festival 2006; Bonus Features: Filmmakers' Commentary; Deleted & Extended Scenes; Behind the Scenes Featurette
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