Jason Segel: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked

2. Peter Bretter - Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

While Knocked Up established the cooler, cockier side of Segel's comic character building, Forgetting Sarah Marshall felt a lot more personal, like a truer reflection of Segel himself - perhaps because he wrote the film. Segel's Peter is the perfect portrait of a hopeless schlub, smashed back to Earth after over-achieving and forced to come to terms with himself, and the fact that he's clearly no competition to Russell Brand's impish, self-destructive rock star. The moment when he discovers that the love of his life is breaking up with him, immediately following his ill-conceived attempt to seduce her with comic nudity is one of the most helplessly funny and tragic moments outside of a Woody Allen film, and it's clear Segel can capture vulnerability perfectly.