Movie Review: “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (2008)
Another chapter in the Judd Apatow family of comedic films, Forgetting Sarah Marshall was a barrel of laughs combined with uncomfortable moments and a few too many shots of Jason Segal’s junk.
You know, his parts.
While the film was produced by Apatow, it was written entirely by Segal, and I have to say he did a good job. Most people may known him by his recent work in How I Met Your Mother, but I started liking him back a few years when the wife and I sat through some of Apatow’s old projects: Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared.
Segal plays Peter Bretter, who gets dumped early in the movie by Sarah Marshall, a famous actor who plays in show much like a CSI, alongside William Baldwin, who does a hilarious impersonation of David Caruso’s sunglassed character in CSI: Miami.
Peter tries to get over Sarah by sleeping with every girl he can, but it’s just no good. Even venting to his friend played by Bill Hader doesn’t help. So he decides to go to Hawaii and stay at a hotel that Sarah used to talk about in the past.
Little does he know that she’s there as well, with her new boyfriend Aldous Snow, played hilariously by Russell Brand.
Upon checking in, Peter meets the front desk clerk named Rachel Jansen, played by the stunning Mila Kunis. She gives him a free $6,000 a night room because she feels sorry for him, and perhaps is also a bit attracted to the sad faced Peter.
The rest of the movie is what happens when Peter sees Sarah everywhere, but is trying to get his life in order and to get past her.
I’d rank this up there with Superbad in the Apatow library, a film I totally loved. Sarah Marshall is not just a perverted comedy like Knocked Up and 40-year Old Virgin, but it also has that soft interior that made Superbad so special.
There are some great side performances from Hader, Jonah Hill and especially Paul Rudd. Jack McBryar from 30 Rock, is also hilarious as a husband on his wedding night who obviously hasn’t had much experience before. His wife wants him to do some things that he’s just not comfortable with:
“If God were a city planner, he wouldn’t have put a playground next to a sewage plant.”
Segal has a great face for this movie, looking highly pathetic most of the time. Kunis shines as she helps Peter get over Sarah, and Brand as a British rockstar was one of my favorite characters who had some great lines.
Like I said earlier, this movie is pretty trashy and dirty, with quite a few frontal nude shots of Segal. Amazingly, in a comedy with two pretty darn good looking girls in it, the goofy guy gets more skin time.
Which is probably why it’s so funny.
I didn’t agree with Roeper that it was great enough for a Top 50 comedy list, but it was still hilarious and worth a look.
Mike’s Rating: 7.5 out of 10
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You didn't mention the songs Jason Segal wrote for this...how could you not mention those awesome tunes?! That's why the next Muppet movie is going to be a return to greatness; Segal's screenplay *and* his songs.
R.A. Porter's last blog post..Forgetting Sarah Marshall
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