‘Sarah Marshall’ has the laughs, it just takes a bit to get to them

In theaters

FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, directed by Nicholas Stoller, written by Jason Segel, 105 minutes, rated R.

Nicholas Stoller’s new movie, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” is a romantic comedy about getting dumped. It’s also about the ramifications of finding out you were being cheated on before you got dumped. Oh, and it’s ultimately about trying to get your life back on track in spite of the crushing depression that follows.

Where are the laughs in that, you ask? Since this is the latest film from producer Judd Apatow (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” “Superbad”), they’re in here. But since this also is a movie that takes its time in getting to those laughs – perhaps too much time, at least when compared to its predecessors – don’t expect them to come too quickly or to hit too hard.

The film follows all of the awkward, heartbreaking ugliness that occurs when Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), a famous television actress, decides to end her five-year relationship with Peter Bretter (Jason Segel), the likable guy who composes the music for her show, just when Peter thought they were at their happiest.

It’s a situation that leaves Peter feeling at his most emotionally and physically naked – literally, in one scene. When Sarah breaks up with him, she does so just as Peter is emerging from the shower. What drops when she delivers her bad news isn’t just his jaw, but also his towel. Standing there in all his shattered glory, his loose body quivering as he weeps openly and uncontrollably in the nude, it’s safe to say that at this point, nothing is looking up for Peter.

But it is for Segel, who wrote the screenplay and in the process conceived one sweet role for himself. With Apatow and Stoller behind him, what he has created is a worthwhile entry into Apatow’s growing catalog of male comedic weepies.

Desperate to get away from Sarah (but not really), Peter naturally goes to the one place Sarah herself favored for a vacation retreat – Hawaii. Not surprisingly, she’s already at the same resort when he arrives. Worse for Peter is that she has traveled with her new British rock-star boyfriend, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), who is so amiably self-absorbed, it’s impossible to dislike him.

Though the same can’t fully be said for Sarah, it’s to Stoller and Segel’s credit that they don’t demonize her. Sarah is a handful, sure, but when the movie allows us to view Peter through her eyes, it’s easy to see why she lost interest in him. After all, for the last year of their relationship, he had turned into such an unmotivated slacker, it’s clear that Peter first lost interest in himself.

Saving him from that fate is Mila Kunis’ Rachel, the beautiful hotel clerk Peter falls for during his stay in paradise, and who ignites in him a sense of meaning and creativity. Lifting him and the film higher are appearances by Jonah Hill of “Superbad,” Paul Rudd as a weed-smoking surfing dude, and Bill Hader as Peter’s bizarre stepbrother. While none of this is as riotous or as raunchy as “Virgin” or “Knocked Up,” the fact that “Sarah Marshall” is a kinder, gentler sex comedy is nevertheless what sets it apart.

Grade: B-

On DVD

CLOVERFIELD, directed by Matt Reeves, written by Drew Goddard, 84 minutes, rated PG-13.

Long before the Statue of Liberty’s head is ripped off its neck and hurled down the streets of lower Manhattan, where it lands with a thud in Matt Reeves’ “Cloverfield,” you know you’re in for something you’re either going to love or loathe.

For the most part, the deciding factor will come down to the way the movie is filmed.

Much like its technical inspiration “The Blair Witch Project,” the film’s conceit is that you witness its story through a handheld video camera – and not one armed with a steadying device. This frenetic, jittery movie is shot by characters running for their lives from a towering monster destroying Manhattan as if it were a house of cards.

For those who can stomach the crazed rush of jerky madness that ensues, they might find that the technique amplifies the action with a sense of urgency – it does, after all, put you in the middle of the chaos in ways that a third-person perspective could not. But for those who find the idea of watching a movie that seems as if it were filmed from the business end of a jackhammer, well, motion sickness and headaches might take hold.

From Drew Goddard’s script, “Cloverfield” begins with a surprise going-away party thrown for popular Rob (Michael Stahl-David), who has just been named vice president for an unnamed company in Japan (birthplace of Godzilla, natch). But when an explosion rocks Manhattan and the film’s towering, vicious version of Godzilla is revealed, the partygoers flee to the streets, where they watch skyscrapers collapse in ways that leave many wondering aloud whether “it’s the terrorists.”

Soon enough, they find out exactly what they’re up against – a beast so beautifully realized by the film’s superb special effects, “Cloverfield” starts to amp up the heat with mounting, claustrophobic tension.

One scene that involves hundreds of people caught on the Brooklyn Bridge, for instance, is the movie at its harrowing best. At its scripted worst, the film’s shaky premise can steal you out of the moment. Still, since the whole movie is a stretch anyway, it’s best not to look for logic and just go with it. “Cloverfield” offers scenes of gripping terror – and a few moments of genuine surprise.

Grade: B

WeekinRewind.com is the site for Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s blog, video podcasts, iTunes portal and archive of hundreds of movie reviews. Smith’s reviews appear Mondays, Fridays and weekends in Lifestyle as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.