Movie Notes: Forgetting Sarah Marshall

July 16th, 2009

= 2 stars

Starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis
Directed by Nicholas Stoller

Synopsis

Television star Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) breaks up with sensitive composer Peter Bretter (Jason Segel). He takes a solo trip to Hawaii to forget about her, but unfortunately runs into Sarah and her new lothario boyfriend, rock star Aldous Snow (Russel Brand). Hilarity ensues.

The Good

• Writer Segel holds his own against actors with relatively more experience, namely Bell (Veronica Mars) and Kunis (That Seventies Show). But Brand’s sexed-up, British rock star nearly steals the show with loads of disturbingly nonchalant, cruel comments delivered in a monotone accent. Apatow veterans Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, and Paul Rudd add expected dashes of flavor.
• The hotel is on the North Shore of Oahu, specifically the Turtle Bay Hilton. The location makes for several picturesque locations and cute mistakes — namely it’s not a long hike to Laie Point. But the backdrop sets up an amusing idea — an awesome, romantic setting can be absolute hell for the recently dumped.
• The film starts out strong with Peter’s introduction, and his pathetic-ness is initially quite amusing, namely his propensity to burst into tears and awkward nudity. That Sarah was totally out of his league adds to his pain.

The Bad

• While adults acting like teenagers is sort of endearing, I soon found it rather pathetic. Some of Peter’s initial choices are just stupid — why Hawaii of all places? Second, once he discovers Sarah and Aldous at the hotel, why wouldn’t he check in somewhere else? Eventually, as we learn more about all four of the principal characters, their concerns are soon revealed to be quite one-dimensional and adolescent (variations on who’s doing who), and I found myself caring progressively less about their fates, to the point of boredom.
• After the great first half and minus all the crass jokes and picturesque setting, things settle into a frustratingly typical romantic comedy plot arc, as Peter falls for front desk clerk Rachel (Mila Kunis). It’s soon very obvious who will end up with who. I actually picked up my iPhone and started playing Trism.
• The whole Dracula-puppet thing just sucked. The songs were terrible, and not in a so-bad-its-good way — two chords and rambling over them. Whenever Peter got close to the piano, the film ground to a halt. And as a result, I hated the ending.

Conclusion

This is one instance where I deviate from the general consensus. The “Apatow machine” is still alive and well, but I don’t count this one among their successes. A trip to Laie Point may be necessary to forget it.

IMDB: Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Wikipedia: Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Rotten Tomatoes: Forgetting Sarah Marshall 85%