Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Rated: R
Is this the point where the Judd Apatow film begins to cave in on itself? Where the story of a guy growing up and finding love in the process, no longer works? No. No we have not. Apatow produced the film but it was written by the film's star, Jason Segel. Segel stars as Peter Bretter, a music composer for a cop-drama TV show and his girlfriend is the show's sexy star, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). Well, his girlfriend was Sarah Marshall. She breaks up with him and in his grief, he decides to flee to Hawaii only to run into Sarah and her new boyfriend, the unequivocal twat "rock" star, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). But in Hawaii he manages to find someone who may even be better for him than Sarah. In retrospect, the film seems to be trying too hard and it's asking a lot of its audience as it stretches for jokes. It needs Sarah to be an actress so they can poke fun at the generic cop drama and so it would be convincing that she could date a famous musician. And beyond the chance meeting in Hawaii, there's elements involving Peter's musical about Dracula involving puppets. And yet, from this cast and from director Nicolas Stoller, it all seems effortless. Everyone just seems to be having a fun time. Even more surprising, while Segel could have just given himself all the jokes and maybe let other members of Apatow's crew who appear in the film (like Jonah Hill, Jack McBrayer, and Paul Rudd) lend an assist, strong comedy comes from the main cast and I was pleasantly surprised by Kristen Bell making me laugh my ass off as well as the discovery of fresh talent in the form of Russell Brand. Forgetting Sarah Marshall may not have the replay value of Superbad or The 40-Year-Old Virgin but it's certainly another date flick where the guy may end up having more fun than the girl but both will be enjoying the flick provided they like laughing. Words by |