Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Universal Pictures)
Totally Forgettable
Forgetting Sarah Marshall is the type of light-hearted fluff comedy that is totally forgotten two minutes after you leave the theater. It has neither the star power nor the brilliant writing necessary to make it linger in your mind. This is another less than blockbuster production from Judd 40 Year Old Virgin Apatow.
Jason Segel wrote and stars in this film. He plays Peter Bretter, a musical composer for a crime investigation TV series that stars his girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). Peter and Sarah have been together for several years but one day she announces it is over. Peter does not handle the breakup well and goes into a downward spiral of hurt and humiliation.
His stepbrother Brian (Bill Hader) advises him to take a vacation and get away from it all. Peter reluctantly agrees and heads out to Hawaii where he ends up at the same hotel where Sarah and her new boyfriend Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) are staying. It is an awkward situation but Peter decides to tough it out.
Eventually he finds a romantic interest in Rachel Jansen (Mila Kunis), a young woman who works for the hotel. She provides him with a shoulder to cry on and soon their friendship turns to a romantic attraction. Strangely her attention to Peter makes Sarah jealous.
There are a variety of minor characters who play a part in this comedy of errors. Jonah Hill is an employee at the hotel who has a slavish devotion to Aldous. This should have been a hilarious situation but rather it comes off awkward and embarrassing. The same is true of Jack McBrayers cameo as a newlywed on his honeymoon and staying at the hotel. He is having trouble with his sex life and Aldous offers him counsel. Again not funny, just embarrassing.
Of the main characters it is Kunis who comes off best. She actually has some life in her performance. When she is on screen the movie sparks. Segel and Bell are bland to the extreme while Brand is good as the trashy British rock musician. Still; his role is a one joke character and eventually even it wears thin.
The film is rated R for profanity, sexual situations and full male nudity.
Nothing in this film is as funny as it should be. The crude humor could have been laughable in spite of its explicitness, but Segel and company just didnt know how to pull it off. They make the audience uncomfortable instead of bringing them in on the joke.
In the end Forgetting Sarah Marshall is truth in advertising as the movie is totally forgettable.
I scored Forgetting Sarah Marshall an amnesia inducing 4 out of 10.
