His latest headline-grabbing penis flash occurs at two pivotal moments in the new disaster comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The lead actor (Jason Segel, who also wrote the film) bares all his manly bits when the girlfriend (the titular character played by Kristen "don't call me Veronica" Bell) breaks up with him, and he drops his bath towel in horror.
This was only the first of many cringe-worthy moments throughout the movie. Normally these moments aren't so bad. I revel this type of brash humor, but in this case I was seated only one row up from a row filled almost entirely with silver-haired grandma-types. Are they supposed to be laughing at the same sex jokes aimed at my demographic? And did they just get that joke that Jonah Hill made about "going from 6 to midnight"? I suppose my awkward-o-meter would only have been ratcheted up higher, by having obviously underage girls occupying the row in front of me. Nonetheless I was compelled to keep a few sarcastic remarks to myself in deference to the Golden Girls. And of course the film was laugh-out-loud funny.
But I digress....back to the money shot(s)...
The intial nudity scene works on several different comedic levels. Just prior to Sarah dropping her bomb, Peter (Segel), tries to entice her by opening his towel and shaking his hips in manner which slaps his manhood against each thigh. This of course is inferred as this action occurs below the framed shot, treating the viewer to the rhythmic "thwack-thwack-thwack." The noise elicits uncomfortable chuckles, and puts the viewer on edge. Then of course, Sarah lays it out, and in the next shot Segel is shown letting it all hang out (gasp!) the one-two comedic punch is doubly effective. The bookend to the male nudity comes at the end of the film, when a new romantic interest walks in Peter backstage changing, instantly diffusing was to be an immensely intense conversation. What a character arc.
This is remarkable on many levels. First that Segel wrote this scene essentially for himself. In interviews Segel maintains that this "naked break-up" actually happened to him, and he actually wanted the girl to hurry things up so he could get to writing the incident down, because it was so funny. Segel is also not the world's most in shape man, and I'd wager that his slightly doughy physique ramps up the comedy further.
And second because this is not the first bit of male nudity in a film in which Apatow is involved. And the progression suggests that it will become not only a regular element in his films, but a constantly evolving element.
I was first introduced to Apatow's universe with his second ill-fated teenage TV comedy "Undeclared." It was here I met two of his regulars who at that time hadn't become the names they are now: Seth Rogen and Segel. It debuted in 2001, and was a comedy about college life. I was in college so presto! I kinda dug it.
For some reason I missed his cult-hit first show "Freaks and Geeks" until last year when I finally was able to Netflix it and instantly fall in love. An IMDB search would reveal that I enjoyed some early Apatow even before "Undeclared" finding out that he was a co-writer on the Disney channel staple Heavyweights. Apatow finally attached himself to a bankable comedy talent in 2004. He jumped on the Will Ferrell juggernaut when Ferrell was hot off of breakout successes in Elf and Old School. He produced Ferrell's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, and then began his world takeover with feature directorial debut The 40-Year-Old Virgin, launching his career and Steve Carell's simultaneously.
Apparently about this time he went to Segel who had hardly worked since "Freaks and Geeks" and said," Hey I can make movies now, do you have anything?" (or in the words of Ron Burgundy, "I'm kind of a big deal"), and so Segel got his first script and male lead in one fell swoop. Between now and then, he gave his buddy Rogen his first male lead in Knocked Up, produced Rogen's first three screenplays Superbad, Drillbit Taylor, and this summer's Pineapple Express. He also produced Ferell's biggest hit, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
Apatow's brand of humor has firmly brought back the concept of the R-rated comedy to American movies. Its remarkable to me how he's gathered such a wide audience with his brand of sexually-frank humor, and teenage mentality. I've loved Kevin Smith's films for so long, but recognize how his core audience is markedly smaller than Apatow's. Apatow has slowly pushed his dick jokes to the point where he now actively utilizes frontal male nudity shots.
The first instance was in his 2007 produced comedy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, the first starring vehicle for the underrated John C. Reilly. Early in that film Cox (Reilly) has a serious conversation with his wife on the phone in the aftermath of an orgy, and at two points during this conversation one of his roadies approaches him to ask him fairly mundane questions. The only thing is the roadie is naked with his junk at eye-level, yet Cox is completely unfazed by this, which punctuates the hilarity.
Now Apatow is far from perfect. I still refuse to see Drillbit Taylor and he apparently co-wrote the latest Adam Sandler monstrosity Don't Mess With the Zohan that comes out this summer. But the R-rated comedy is surely back. Case and point will be this Friday's stoner sequel Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (Apparently the boys will be attending a "bottomless" party, and there will be some reference to an old guy's nether region "looking like Osama Bin Laden's beard").
Apparently Apatow has spoken; to have a successful comedy, one of your boys is going to have to drop trou.
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