Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Movie Review (2008)

Sarah Who?

Directed by Nicholas Stoller, written by Jason Segel, 105 minutes, rated R.

Nicholas Stoller’s new movie, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” is a romantic comedy about getting dumped. It’s also about the ramifications of finding out you were being cheated on before you got dumped. Oh, and it’s ultimately about trying to get your life back on track in spite of the crushing depression that follows.

Where are the laughs in that, you say? Since this is the latest film from producer Judd Apatow (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” “Superbad”) they’re in here. But since this also is a movie that takes its time in getting to those laughs--perhaps too much time, at least when compared to its predecessors--don’t expect them to come too quickly or to hit too hard.

The film follows all of the awkward, heartbreaking ugliness that occurs when Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), a famous television actress, decides to end her 5-year relationship with Peter Bretter (Jason Segel), the likable guy who composes the music for her show, just when Peter thought they were at their happiest.

It’s a situation that leaves Peter feeling at his most emotionally and physically naked--literally in one scene. When Sarah breaks up with him, she does so just as Peter is emerging from the shower. What drops when she delivers her bad news isn’t just his jaw, but also his towel. Standing there in all his shattered glory, his loose body quivering as he weeps openly and uncontrollably in the nude, it’s safe to say that at this point, nothing is looking up for Peter.

But it is for Segel, who wrote the screenplay and in the process, conceived one sweet role for himself. With Apatow and Stoller behind him, what he has created is a worthwhile entry into Apatow’s growing catalog of male comedic weepies.

Desperate to get away from Sarah (but not really), Peter naturally goes to the one place Sarah herself favored for a vacation retreat--Hawaii. Not surprisingly, she’s already at the same resort when he arrives. Worse for Peter is that she has traveled with her new English rock star boyfriend, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), who is so amiably self-absorbed, it’s impossible to dislike him.

Though the same can’t fully be said for Sarah, it’s to Stoller and Segel’s credit that they don’t demonize her. Sarah is a handful, sure, but when the movie allows us to view Peter through her eyes, it’s easy to see why she lost interest in him. After all, for the last year of their relationship, he had turned into such an unmotivated slacker, it’s clear that Peter first lost interest in himself.

Saving him from that fate is Mila Kunis’ Rachel, the beautiful hotel clerk Peter falls for during his stay in paradise, and who ignites in him a sense of meaning and creativity. Lifting him and the film higher are appearances by Jonah Hill of “Superbad,” Paul Rudd as a weed-smoking surfing dude, and Bill Hader as Peter’s bizarre stepbrother. While none of this is as riotous or as raunchy as “Virgin” or “Knocked Up,” the fact that “Sarah Marshall” is a kinder, gentler sex comedy is nevertheless what sets it apart.

Grade: B-