Forgetting Sarah Marshall: B
You’ll have to look far and wide this year to find a comedy that does not somehow bear Judd Apatow’s mark. His career has been on a tremendous upswing since the cancelation of his TV series “Freaks and Geeks” in 2000; the recent success of films like “Knocked Up” and “Superbad” has suddenly turned him into a major Hollywood commodity.
Other Apatow-related projects slated for a summer-2008 release include the Adam Sandler vehicle “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” and the much-anticipated stoner flick “Pineapple Express.” But the first is “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” which opened Friday.
The film follows Peter (Jason Segel) through a devastating breakup with his TV-star girlfriend Sarah (Kristen Bell). Peter tries to flee from his sorrows by taking a vacation in Hawaii, but he soon learns that Sarah and her new boyfriend (an eccentric British rock star played by scene stealer Russell Brand) are staying at the very same resort. In his personal journey to get over Sarah, Peter meets a hotel employee named Rachel (Mila Kunis) and runs into a number of other painful and hilarious bumps in the road to redemption. The jokes are as crude and hilarious as one can expect. In particular, the words “Dracula Rock Opera” seem worth mentioning.
Segel wrote the script and starred in the film, as Seth Rogen did in “Superbad” and “Pineapple Express.” Apatow’s troupe of actors clearly has a keen understanding not only of the physical aspect of comedy but also of the topical, reference-based humor that has come to define their style. The charm of Peter is that he’s an everyman. He’s incredibly sympathetic, but Segel is careful not to portray him as a pathetic sap as some actors are inclined to do in break-up movies. We see Peter go through a string of ill-advised one-night stands, and make clumsy attempts to get back with Sarah. These are some of the moments that make the film feel incredibly authentic and relatable.
To some extent, a Judd Apatow film is only as good as its supporting cast. “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” certainly doesn’t disappoint in this area. Regulars Jonah Hill, Bill Hader and Paul Rudd all give good performances, and “30 Rock”‘s Jack McBrayer is hilarious as a sexually inexperienced honeymooner. Also, look out for an uproarious cameo by everyone’s second or third-favorite Baldwin – Billy. Perhaps the film’s most apparent flaw is that the two female leads, Bell and Kunis, fall flat in comparison to the rest of the cast and fail to pack the comedic punch of some of Apatow’s other featured actresses like Leslie Mann and Kristen Wiig. Bell’s portrayal of the title character in particular is, pardon the pun, a bit forgettable.
While “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” doesn’t ultimately have the surprising depth of “Knocked Up,” it’s still one of the funniest and most sincere break-up films in recent memory. It’s hard for anybody to complain about an oversaturation of Apatow’s brand of humor when he consistently churns out films this good.
