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Directed By
Nicholas Stoller
Written By:
Jason Segel
Cast:
Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Bill Hader, Kala Alexander, Gina Fricchione, Carla Gallo, Jonah Hill, Elizabeth Keener, Peter Lewis, Jack McBrayer, Davon McDonald, Paul Rudd, Maria Thayer, Caroline Timm, Kristen Wiig, June Diane Raphael, Tri Le, Shannon Garnett, Katherine VanderLinden, Channing Swift, Carla Alapont, Meggan Anderson, Diane Baldwin, Liz Cackowski, Erik R. Norris, Jean Huynh, Kaleo Black, Tanisha Harper, Kirsten Roeters, Brittany Ross, Joy Gohring
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Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
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Movie Review by Thom
March 23rd, 2009
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Remembering Sarah Marshall
Favorite Movie Quote: "One drink and by the end of the night I'll be rimming waiters for their tip-money for a rock."
I didn't go see Forgetting Sarah Marshall when it first came out in the late spring of 2008. While it was on my list of "if I get around to it", I'm not that big a Jason Segel fan, I hadn't seen Mila Kunis outside her annoying That 70's Show persona, had no idea who Russell Brand was, and my favorite cast member, Kristen Bell, looked very much like she was playing a lying, cheating, man-hating b*tch. So I skipped it until I saw it via pay per view.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall certainly begins exactly the way that you would think; protagonist Peter Bretter (a dumpy Jason Segel) promptly gets dumped by long-term girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kristin Bell) who has taken up with douche-baggy musician Aldous Snow (hysterical scene-stealer Russell Brand). After a series of meaningless flings that only serve to deepen his depression, Peter decides to vacation in Hawaii. Problem? He runs into Sarah on her first public foray with the new boyfriend. Solution? He also runs into local girl and hotel desk clerk Rachel Jansen (a radiant Mila Kunis), with whom he quickly become romantically entagled.
And here's where Forgetting Sarah Marshall changes the formula and elevates above your typical romantic comedy: Sarah Marshall is not an evil charicature of a man-hating b*tch, and Aldous winds up being extremely difficult to hate for both Peter and the audience. While one can probably guess how it's going to end, it's nowhere near as clear a picture as all the other rather faceless romantic comedies. Rather than make it about one person being 100% wrong and another being 100% betrayed, Forgetting Sarah Marshall presents surprisingly realistic motivations from people that you'd have expected anything but. No one's perfect and no one is unforgivably wrong for the things that they do.
Both Segel and Kunis put themselves on my radar beyond the comical sidekicks that I'd known them as, and Russell Brand - who looks every bit the part of the kind of lame flame that chicks are drawn to like moths - winds up being likeable if not exactly the best boyfriend material.
Maybe Peter can forget Sarah Marshall, but I don't think I will. I've seen the movie three times now, and it gets better every time.
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