Now Judd Apatow has been around, he has his hooks into everything, and is definitely no overnight success. He is producing movies at such a volume and positive reception that a "Judd Apatow" comedy is becoming a brand name like Pepsi.
I saw "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" over the weekend, it's fun, what was to be expected, and has some fun moments for what it is. It's a mediocre era in comedy I guess when trumping Adam Sandler lowest common denominators is seen as re-writing the book on mainstream comedy in film. Nevertheless, very watchable and fun.
It was written by and stars Judd Apatow alumni from "Freaks and Geeks" and "Knocked up" Jason Segel.
Who the hell is Jason Segel ? and to that degree, who the hell is Seth Rogen, who the hell is Jonah Hill, who the hell is James Franco, who the hell is Michael Cera who the hell is Jay Baruchel ?
This new Apatow Mafia seems to be the next wave in bankable comedy actors, even if they do need to exist in their own cloistered Apatow-generated universe of films.
The big thing I took away from it is this:
Most of these guys hail from a cancelled TV show that ran 18 episodes in 1999. Not even one and done in the vast vacuum of TV. Nobody, outside of Franco, is a pretty boy marketable presence, and no one has ever seen Freaks and Geeks.
Now take those variables and that situation and consider that Rogen, Segel, Baruchel, and Franco and the extended network of the Apatow fraternity have contributed to roughly 10 to 12 hit movies since 1999.
I know at this point it's incoherent rambling, but the lesson I wanted to extend this morning is Seth Rogen and Jason Segel are doughy, dude-like slackers, who are now writing and starring in their own hit movies with what seems like very little effort. The audiences love them and the bloated comedy megaphones of extremes of Jim Carrey and Will Ferrell seem to be headed towards extinction with these do it yourself movie stars on a constant rise.
I know doughy, dude, actors in LA who have been on nowhere shows for a year who have done nothing after their respective "Freaks and Geeks" failure. You have to give credit to Rogen, Segel, and this posse of no name guys who get off their asses, write movies, and work every angle available to them to exceed potential and actually become real live movie stars.
Any one of these guys could just hit some parties, accept their lot, and coast along and play Jim Belushi's sitcom hell pothead cousin on "Life according to Jim."
But they don't.
I liked the movie and it taught me if you're just some dude with no chance of anything that you should get off your ass and write something and do something whatever it is.
It may just keep you off of a Jim Belushi sitcom one day.
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