Jason Segel has been a busy man lately. Fresh from having written and starred in the last Muppets movie, he also co-wrote this surprisingly engaging (sorry) romantic comedy.

Starring: Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada), Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom).
Director: Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek).
Screening: Reading Cinemas, Queenstown, daily, 1pm, 3.45pm, 8.45pm.
4 stars (out of 5)

Segel plays Tom, a brilliant sous chef who is totally committed to his lovely English rose, Violet (Blunt).

Violet is accepted at Michigan University to study social psychology, but this means Tom putting aside his head chef dreams and putting the marriage on hold until she completes her studies.

For a while, everything goes well, but the relationship goes awry when Violet is offered the job of a lifetime.

I found this movie comparable to Funny People, another Judd Apatow-driven comedy, in the way the film dealt with rather serious relationship issues, but then punctuated it every now and then with moments of pure unadulterated goofiness.

The scene with Blunt using the voice of the Cookie Monster to argue with her sister Suzie had me in stitches. And again, Segel has a few scenes without his pants on.

This movie wouldn't have worked without pure chemistry between the leads and Blunt and Segel work brilliantly together.

Their comic timing is spot on, and Blunt is proving to be quite versatile after her previous turns in more serious movies such as The Young Victoria and The Wolfman.

The running time could have been shorter, with a rather saggy half hour in the middle, but this is a blip in an otherwise brilliantly observed comedy.

- By Sally Burgess.