The How I Met Your Mother Blog

I may or may not chose to update this later with a more well thought out retrospective of the film. Until then, allow me to prattle on after three or four margaritas and one or two hours of the best movie I’ve seen in a long time.

I loved the movie. It was wonderful. And not just because I love to see Segel (albeit I never expected to see THAT much Segel) but because it was smart, funny, moving, and real. This took the romantic comedy genre, which has reduced itself to a meta cluster-fuck of in jokes thanks to Richard Curtis, and proved why that type of movie became so popular in the first place. It followed the same formula, but rather than the meet cutes feeling trite and the late-second-act conflict feeling forced, it played out like we were watching the lives of real people.

The supporting cast was great. The dude who played Aldous Snow (I’ll look him up later) was genius. He embodied that guy who is such a slimey d-bag that you want nothing to do with him yet, as Peter Bretter put it on the surf board “Damn, you’re cool”. Paul Rudd is also either the best actor of our time or he ad-libs every single line he speaks. His delivery is that good.

Kristen Bell is a gem. I love her. I couldn’t help feeling like her speech about not wanting to be forgotten since she won’t show her hoo-ha after her show was untimely canceled was a little true to life. Less evil villain and more realistic ex girlfriend, I actually felt bad for her even though I was totally on Peter’s side.

Mila Kunis was also fabulous. She balanced just on the brink of both emotionless tough girl and sensitive romantic. Her and Segel had great chemistry. The dinner scene between the four of them could’ve been a short film in and of itself.

At the base of it all is a story built on a metaphor. That metaphor being that every man needs a muse. That even if there is love in the home, a man can feel castrated being the purse holder while his famous girlfriend is in the spotlight. It would’ve been easy to make her vapid and self-obsessed, but she didn’t have to be. The nature of the beast is what broke Bretter in the first place. Then he meets that geek dream boat—the girl who’s pretty and confident and challenging. And with this new muse, the hero finds redemption. Puppet redemption, but a catharsis nonetheless.

That about does it. What did you guys think? Did you see it? I want you guys to go nuts so don’t worry about spoilers. That being said, if you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want to know the details, avoid these comments. In fact, why haven’t you seen it? Go now, then come back!

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The movie is coming out soon and I’ve got some info and production photos to share. Let the news and media begin. Continue reading…

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Last week we learned that Jason Segel would be penning a new Muppet movie. I was quite excited about this. Who doesn’t  love The Muppets? Segel recently chatted with MTV about the direction he plans to take with the film:

“I’ve just grown a little disappointed with ‘Muppets in the Old West,’ ‘Muppets Under Water,’ and all these weird concept movies. I just want to go take it back to the early 80’s, when it was about the Muppets trying to put on a show. That’s what I’m trying to bring back,” said Segel, who also wants to bring back the big name cameos of the earlier films. “All of our friends that I’ve brought it up to are pretty excited by the prospect of it. Everyone loves the Muppets; they’ve got a warm place in most people’s hearts. We want a lot of cameos. You look back at Charles Grodin, Charles Durning, there were just such great performances in those movies.” “We’ve got a great plot. I think if we can execute it right, it will be terrific. But I can’t tell you more - it’s top secret.”

Segel also weighed in on his opinion of Kermit the Frog:

“I remember thinking that Kermit was the original Tom Hanks - he was the everyman for a kid. I remember watching Kermit and thinking ‘That’s what I want to do when I grow up.’ I don’t think I realized he was a puppet.”

All this via Slash Film, who also have some excellent points on Segel and the script.

I still think that Segel’s the perfect writer for this movie. The key to what made the Muppets so cool was how they were written and geared for adults, rather than children. Do you have any favorite Muppet moments?

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I don’t like to post thrice in one day but this was too good to pass up. I’ll keep it short.

The Muppets are back back back – and you’re not going to believe who’s behind their glorious big-screen revival.

For it’s only Nick Stoller and Jason Segel – the director, star and co-writers of the forthcoming Judd Apatow-produced comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

…when Segel was invited to a general meeting with Disney executive, Kristin Burr, he pitched his concept for a new Muppets movie, and was hired on the spot.

That explains the Muppet references on the ilovesarahmarshall.com blog. I’m really excited about this, who better to bring back the Muppets to their former glory?

Read the whole story here. Thanks to reader Liz for pointing this out to me. And no, I don’t think the story is serious about Segel leaving HIMYM. Those Apatow boys are busy beavers, I think he’ll take all this on in stride. Hell, he’s probably already got it written.

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Last week I mentioned the blog for Fogetting Sarah Marshall at ilovesarahmarshall.com. Well, the URL now redirects to ihatesarahmarshall.com and the focus of the blog has changed a bit:

F her. F the shit out of her. You know I’ve been thinking about it and it’s like five years! You’re just going to throw that away. I guess she is! So it’s all out on the table now. Struggling, insecure, low self-esteem, doesn’t know what she had TV actress Sarah Marshall dumped me last night. yes, the one on the stupid crime TV show with Daniel Baldwin. Or Adam or Billy or Pablo…who the F can keep ‘em straight? She probably screwing ‘em all anyway.

This is great. I really love this kind of marketing. Cheers to Segel for making all the videos. I bet he actually writes the blog posts too. I’m actually really excited to see the movie. It’s generating a lot of buzz online. Hopefully all that buzz, and any box office success the film has, will catapult Segel to more of a “star” status and in turn help the show.

It’s nice to see the actors popping up elsewhere. Maybe the movie Cobie Smulders is working on will also be good (don’t tell anyone: I doubt it will be) and will give her some more visibility as well.

Now Josh Radnor just needs a hit role. He should go on Entourage as himself, but expose some fictional, ludicrous lifestyle of banging chicks and breaking hearts. That’d be great. It worked for future-Ted Mosby:

NSFW language

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I know this is old but I’ve been ignoring it for some reason:

Jason Segel reportedly is to star in the big-screen comedy “Five-Year Engagement,” which he co-wrote with writer-director Nick Stoller.

Segel… previously worked with Stoller on the soon-to-be-released “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” Variety.com said.

Filmmaker Judd Apatow is a producer on both “Sarah” and “Engagement.”

“(’Engagement’ is) definitely an extension of our desire to explore the depth of human misery,” Stoller told the trade newspaper. “If Sarah Marshall (played by Kristen Bell) and Jason’s character had stayed together, this might be the sequel.”

source

That might not have been worth posting, save for this juicy Forgetting Sarah Marshall update.

Segel’s character in FSM, Peter Bretter, has a blog and it’s not just a little creepy. Check it out, it’s got some hilarious Segelisms. I see a lot of himself in all the characters he plays—his love of Les Miserables, singing into a camera ala Lily’s “goodnight tape”, his love for the occult—it’s all there. Plus, we get these two videos:

Worth noting: www.ihatesarahmarshall.com redirects to the same blog. Could this be a viral marketing stunt where “Peter Bretter” changes focus on his blog just before the film’s premiere?

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TV Guide recently ranked the top ten married television couples. Guess who came in at number five? Lily Aldrin and Marshall Ericksen. Not bad after less than a year of marriage. The rest of the ranking was as follows:

1. “Friday Night Lights” Tami and Eric Taylor, played by Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler
2. “Medium” Allison and Joe Dubois, played by Patricia Arquette and Jake Weber
3. “Desperate Housewives” Lynette and Tom Scavo, played by Felicity Huffman and Doug Savant
4. “Everybody Hates Chris” Rochelle and Julius, played by Tichina Arnold and Terry Crews
5. “How I Met Your Mother” Lily Aldrin and Marshall Eriksen, played by Alyson Hannigan and Jason Segel
6. “The Unit” Mollly Blane and Sgt. Major Jonas, played by Regina Taylor and Dennis Haysbert
7. “Lost” Rose Henderson and Bernard Nadler, played by L. Scott Caldwell and Sam Anderson (editor’s note: my second favorite on the list)
8. “Ghost Whisperer” Melinda Gordon and Jim Clancy, played by Jennifer Love Hewitt and David Conrad
9. “Family Guy” Lois and Peter Griffin, voiced by Alex Borstein and Seth MacFarlane
10. “Scrubs,” Carla Espinosa and Chris Turk, played by Judy Reyes and Donald Faison

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I haven’t watch this yet but I just found it and wanted to get it up for everyone to see. “Red Band” means the trailer is R rated so if you’re young or easily offended or at work, you’ve been warned. I’ll update once I watch it.

What do we think?

More on the movie here, here, and here.

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Jason Segel, the second-youngest member of the cast, turns 28 today. He has a lot to celebrate. 2008 will see Forgetting Sarah Marshall debut, a movie that Segel wrote as well as stars in. He’ll also appear alongside Paul Rudd in I Love You, Man.

In Jason’s honor, here is a short bio:

Date of Birth

January 18, 1980, Los Angeles, California, USA

Birth Name

Jason Jordan Segel

Height

6′ 4″ (1.93 m)

Trivia

• He was on a high school basketball team who won state in California
• He plays piano. (Damn right he does.)
• He loves Disneyland.
• Was chosen for the role of Marshall Eriksen in “How I Met Your Mother” (2005) because of his work on the short lived television show “Freaks and Geeks” (1999) of which creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas were huge fans.
• Likes classic rock and reggae music.
• Has a sister, Alison, born March 9, 1986.

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This movie is going to be awesome. It looks like Sad Marshall from last year but without the moral hangups of eventually going back to Lily. There’s a few great quotes even from the trailer.

“Sarah, I swear to God, I’ll jump in the lake like a merman.”
“Would you like to pick the outfit you break up with me in?”

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