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Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Unrated Widescreen Edition) Review

There seems to be a little comedy club, like a secret fraternity, and one wonders just what is the secret handshake to get in? It helps, rather than hinders, if you've been in TV, especially Freaks and Geeks, which was Forgetting Sarah Marshall Producer Judd Apatow's pet project. Judd Apatow is a name you might want to casually drop into a conversation over lunch at Wolfgang Puck's. Jason Segel cut his teeth on Freaks and Geeks, and he wrote FSM, and stars in it as the heart broken Peter Bretter. Some of the break up experiences were true, and some were exaggerated. He did in fact, try to get over a break up by writing a Rock Opera about Dracula:

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Rachel Jansen: [about his rock opera] Why Dracula?
Peter Bretter: Because he's just a man, he wants to be loved but every woman he gets near he ends up smothering and killing, and I've had similar experiences.
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Wonder if he got any advice about writing Show Tunes from Neil Patrick Harris, who is after all, an authority on the subject (check out Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog. Not only that, but he hosted the Tony Awards). Segel and Harris are both currently on "How I Met Your Mother," and it would seem an excellent opportunity for Segel to get help finishing his Musical-within-a-movie while they waited around between set-ups.

Who else in FSM has worked more on the small screen than the silver one? Let's see.
There's Kristen Bell, who plays Sarah Marshall, the woman he's trying to forget. Kristen Bell was Veronica Mars on "Veronica Mars" (64 episodes, 2004-2007).

Mila Kunis is Rachel Jansen, the woman he's trying to forget Sarah with. Mila was Jackie Burkhart on "That '70s Show" (201 episodes, 1998-2006). Jackie was such an annoying brat that it is quite a surprise to see her in FSM. Even Russell Brand, who plays Sarah's new boyfriend, the polymorphously perverse and annoyingly full-of-himself rock star Aldous Snow, lead singer of Infant Sorrow (BTW, Brand is engaged to Katy Perry in so-called Real Life); confessed that he fancied her.

Bill Hader is from "Saturday Night Live," Jack McBrayer is on "30 Rock," and Paul Rudd was Mike Hannigan, one of Phoebe's many boyfriends, on "Friends" (18 episodes, 2002-2004). He also made an appearance on Kristen Bell's "Veronica Mars." Paul Rudd was Desmond Fellows (1 episode, 2007).

The plethora of TV actors was also appropriate because one of the main things that made Peter want to forget Sarah Marshall was that she was the star of a CSI-like cop show, while he was the show's composer. It was less than fulfilling work, though. He was reduced to producing ominous sounding fills, mostly percussion. There were some great clips that parodied those kind of shows, with William Baldwin skewering Horatio Kane and his ilk as Detective Hunter Rush:

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Sarah Marshall: [lifts up the sheet] What do you think, Rush?
Detective Hunter Rush: [cringes] It's going to be hard for her to reenter the pageant... without a face.
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He has the dramatic, Shatneresque pause, punctuated by taking off his sun glasses. Those shows are already a self-parody, so they're not as easy to make fun of as you would think. Meanwhile, what was it exactly that caused Sarah to dump Peter?

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Sarah Marshall: It got really hard taking care of you when you stopped taking care of yourself, I tried everything to get you off your little island, the couch.
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Wonder if Peter Bretten watched much TV while he was on his little island, the couch? Seems like Sarah Marshall was having as much trouble getting Peter off the island as the Skipper and Gilligan were, not to mention the Professor and Mary Ann. Three hour tour? Anyway, I'm not complaining about all the TV talent in FSM, because with all that comedy experience you have a crack ensemble ready, willing, and able to kick it up a notch. Before there was Robin Williams there was a little show called "Mork & Mindy," and Jim Carrey paid his dues with "Duck Factory" and "In Living Color."

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Peter Bretter: I love Hawaii.
Sarah Marshall: Yeah, it's nice, but I think for like a week, tops. Any more than that and I know that I'd go crazy, because I think that Hawaii is a place to escape for people who can't deal with the real world.
Rachel Jansen: Yeah, you know, there's so few personal shoppers and pet therapists. Gosh, it's such a hard life.
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A cool thing about FSM was the setting in Oahu, an island of Hawaii. It seemed like a great place to regroup and fix a broken heart. Even if Peter spent the first part of his vacation drinking potent cocktails with little umbrellas, he did eventually come to realize that he could be happy without booze and Sarah Marshall. Don't want to give away too much, but besides the cute and helpful desk clerk, Rachel, there was Surf Instructor Chuck (a rudderless Paul Rudd), and helpful staff like Kimo (Taylor Wily) ready to offer understanding and a little Kimo-therapy:

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Kimo: Are those sad tissues or happy tissues?
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FSM was a very funny movie, and it was enhanced by the setting. I love Hawaii--Oahu, Maui. Mahalo!

FSM was kind of a mish mash, but it comes at you like one of those gigantic waves all the surfers are always raving about. Shall I compare it to a Shakespearean comedy of errors? Another thing about FSM, it had sincerity.

My niece Lulu thinks it was just about the funniest movie ever, but I think that Superbad is. I thought that FSM had kind of a shaky start, but it picked up comedy momentum. Superbad rushes out of the gate and doesn't look back. But that's just me. Your mileage may vary.

The Bottom Line is that Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a memorable and funny film, and Jason Segel would seem to have a future beyond TV--both writing screenplays and acting in films. He is not such a bad songwriter/lyricist, either. He wrote some cool tunes for the film, both the Dracula musical and some tunes for Aldous Snow. Of the songs that he did not write for the film, I liked that there were two versions of The Artist Formerly Known as Prince's Nothing Compares 2 U, by both Sinéad O'Connor and The Coconutz with Daniel Ho. The second one captured the 'flava' of the islands, like that uke version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Who does that? It's awesome.

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Darald: Let me just say that if God was a city planner he would not put a playground next to a sewage system!
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I Love You, Man (2009) Jason Segel was Sydney Fife; Paul Rudd was Peter Klaven
Max Payne (2008) Mila Kunis was Mona Sax
Superbad (Unrated Widescreen Edition) (2007) Jonah Hill was Seth; Bill Hader was Officer Slater
Knocked Up (Unrated Widescreen Edition) (2007) Jason Segel was Jason; Bill Hader was Brent; Jonah Hill was Jonah; Paul Rudd was Pete
Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2007) Jack McBrayer was DJ; (uncredited) Jonah Hill was Older Nate; (uncredited) Paul Rudd was John Lennon
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Unrated Widescreen Edition) (2005) Jonah Hill was eBay Customer; Paul Rudd was David
Pootie Tang (2001) Kristen Bell was Record Executive's Daughter
Can't Hardly Wait (1998) Jason Segel was Watermelon Guy
The Size Of Watermelons (1996) Paul Rudd was Alex
Sliver (Unrated Edition) (1993) William Baldwin was Zeke Hawkins

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Darald: What's the state fish of Hawaii?
Dwayne the Bartender: The Humuhumunukunukuapua'a.
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Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Unrated Widescreen Edition) Overview

Peter (Jason Segel) is a struggling musician who finds his world turned upside down when his TV celebrity girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), dumps him for a tragically hip rock star. It’s the hysterically funny look at how far one man will go to forget a girl – and all the fun he finds along the way!

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Unrated Widescreen Edition) Specifications

Breaking up is hard to do--but that doesn't mean you can't have some belly laughs about it. Forgetting Sarah Marshall provides that rare treat: a romantic comedy about breakups, that is both romantic and funny. The laughs, especially from writer-star Jason Segel, are both heartfelt and raunchy, and the film is just unexpected enough that it keeps the viewer's attention till the end. The touches of producer Judd Apatow, who's famously retooled rom-coms to appeal to guys as much as women, are woven throughout the film, but Segel's script, reportedly based on many of his own experiences, is fresh and original. And adult. Forgetting Sarah Marshall features male genitalia laffs presented in unexpected and human ways (the nude breakup scene is played for giggles but also deep poignancy), and the language and sex scenes are strictly for grownups--and rightly so. Segel's script, and his performance as Peter, show that he understands the true nature of adult re! lationships, which provides the refreshing difference between this film and some of Apatow's other crude creations. The cast is sublime; Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) plays title character Sarah, a self-absorbed actress, and Russell Brand is her new British honey who accompanies her to--what are the chances?--the exact same Hawaiian resort as Peter, who's nursing his broken heart. Mila Kunis plays Rachel, the resort employee who gives Peter a reason to hope, and Paul Rudd is the surfing instructor who gives him his own brand of heartfelt advice ("When life gives you lemons, just say 'F--- the lemons' and bail," he says cheerily). The pacing is screwball, and the absurdities fly (a "Dracula" musical puppet show, and a surprisingly lovely Hawaiian version of "Nothing Compares 2 U"). Nothing the viewer will forget any time soon.--A.T. Hurley

Get to Know the Cast From Forgetting Sarah Marshall