Empire's Forgetting Sarah Marshall Movie Review

Plot
When he’s ditched by his girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Bell), Peter (Segel) feels like his heart’s been ripped out, stabbed and stomped on. He heads to Hawaii to try to get over the hurt, only to find Sarah and her new boyfriend (Brand) staying on the same resort.

During the 1980s, the early alumni of Saturday Night Live produced an astonishing succession of comedies, including the likes of Ghostbusters, Caddyshack, The Blues Brothers and The Three Amigos (while never in the SNL cast, Steve Martin was an honorary gang member). 20 years later, and there’s another sprawling ensemble of funny guys and gals in town, loosely pinned around writer-producer-director Judd Apatow. And after last year’s double-whammy of Knocked Up and Superbad, it’s starting to look like they may hit the consistent heights of hilarity reached by Murray, Aykroyd et al. So how does their latest effort measure up?

Well, as it turns out, it’s solidly entertaining, if a little scattershot. Like Apatow’s pregnancy-centric Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is an amiable and deeply mellow comedy that takes a situation which really shouldn’t be funny - in this case, a guy dealing with the burn of heartbreak - and squeezes jokes out of it like juice from a plum. The creative force behind the project is for once not Apatow or Seth Rogen, but Jason Segel, who you may recognise as the deliverer of Knocked Up’s “he wants to rear your child” zinger. As well as the movie’s screenwriter, Segel plays Peter Bretter, a thirtysomething musician who makes his living composing gloomy mood-tones for a TV cop show - the biggest laughs early on come from clips of the dire series, which features Billy Baldwin as a detective cornily cracking one-liners like, “Can you say… ‘dicksicle’?”

The plot engine kicks in when Peter is dumped by his girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), who is also the star of said cop show, for a new guy - while he’s completely naked. Ouch. After trying to get over the pain through random sex, he heads to a place in Hawaii that Sarah has always described as the best place on Earth - only to find her there with said new guy. Double-ouch. Will he win her back, or will he succumb to the humbler but more exotic charms of island resident Racheal (Mila Kunis)?

This being an Apatow-gang vehicle rather than a Working Title rom-com, the movie’s less concerned with answering that question than in dishing up lots of silly, bawdy dialogue. The supporting cast is too vast to give everyone a name-check, but surprisingly outstanding is Russell Brand, playing to type as the sex-mad Brit rocker who’s Sarah’s new squeeze. The endearingly dim character is one trouser-armadillo short of being a lost member of Spinal Tap, and Brand plays it to the hilt. Also of note: 30 Rock’s toothy Jack McBrayer as a newly-wed who’s petrified of consummating his marriage, an almost unrecognisable Paul Rudd as a doofus surf instructor, and Jonah Hill as a resort worker star-struck by Brand.

Problem is, the hilarious peripheral scenes involving this bunch are more memorable than the ones which form the meat of the cookie-cutter love-triangle story. Bell’s perky charms, familiar to fans of TV’s Veronica Mars, are mostly wasted in a vapid-starlet role that requires her to be superficial and unlikeable. Segel gives it his all, displaying his goods in not one but two scenes of full-frontal nudity, but doesn’t yet have the onscreen everyman charm of, say, Seth Rogen. It has to be said, though, that Kunis (who bizarrely is the voice of Meg Griffin in Family Guy) is an absolutely radiant presence, a good comedy actress and - many will be happy to hear - not resistant to the notion of nakedness herself.

A Brilliant Comedy
One of the funniest films ever. Segel, Brand and Kunis are great. A little predicable at times but that is saved by the best ending scene in history. A must see laugh out loud movie. ... More


Posted by CambiMan at 14:47, 14 February 2012 \| Report This Post



FEELGOOD COMEDY FUN.
This is Segel at his best in forgetting sarah marshall a tropical romantic sex comedy, the set pieces are generally eye candy as is the sexy cast, Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell both putting on funny enjoyable performances, the sheer bitchyness of Bells character Sarah Marshall is handled brilliantly by Bell who pulls of troubled jealous bitch with flying colours and no offence to Bell a seemingly expertise bitchiness, thats probably cuz shes such a good actor. Kunis of recent history was brillian... More


Posted by lewisb548 at 17:28, 19 June 2011 \| Report This Post



Segel at his best
Poor Peter (Segel) his girlfriend for many year Sarah Marshall (Bell) breaks-up with him while he is totally naked. To deal with this break-up Peter starts to have sex with random strangers but he still feel the pain. So he decides to go to Hawaii only to find out that his old girlfriend is at the same hotel with her new boyfriend. But lucky for Peter he is met by the charming Racehl (Kunis) whom he falls in love with. Well you propably know Segel from the succesfull sitcom How I Met Your Mothe... More


Posted by Rosholm at 16:57, 28 May 2009 \| Report This Post




This gem of a movie is proof that Judd Apatow comedies are the primordial brain children of a true wunderkind, an innovative auteur for finding hilarity in the mundane. Forgetting Sarah Marshall is the best comedy of the year, and one of the finest in yonks. ... More


Posted by Romarth at 20:44, 17 February 2009 \| Report This Post




8/10 ... More


Posted by shawshank prisoner at 16:59, 08 February 2009 \| Report This Post



Sarah Marshall
Hysterical, bold, funny. Brilliant. Great work by Segel, Bell, Kunis, and Rudd, but Brand steals the movie. I can not think of him serenading Bell without giggling. ... More


Posted by lynnshep at 15:25, 29 November 2008 \| Report This Post



totally unfunny
the first major mis- step by producer Judd Apatow , after a run of pretty decent comedies. By definition a comedy should be somewhat funny - but this crap didnt register for me. It was totally formulaic and very flat ... More


Posted by moviemaniac2 at 18:18, 23 November 2008 \| Report This Post



Forgetting Sarah Marshall
The positive buzz on Sarah Marhsall has gotten me hyped up to see it and when i was brought a copy of the DVD i slammed the disc right into the player and sat down ready to laugh alot. Unfortunetly i was far away from being laughed out when the movie finished and was very dissapointed so i hit the play button on the remote after the credits rolled(yeah im a man who ikes seeing some after-film credits once in a while) . After a second viewing my opinion on the film had not changed a bit. The main... More


Posted by AxelB at 15:11, 21 October 2008 \| Report This Post



Predecitable But Funny.
Me and my sister watched this last night and we thought it was very funny but I knew what would happen in the end without even seeing it. It's very predecitable, not very fair to a romantic comedy and that the couple who spilt are not really the kind you would root to. The hilarous Russell Brand was brilliant in this but he was hardly in it, they should have used him more with his laugh-out loud jokes and that hair! There's nothing really poor about this movie, it's just a little too long and th... More


Posted by joanna likes films at 11:43, 22 September 2008 \| Report This Post



Am I The Only One?
Do You Know what it means to lose 2 hours of your life? What do you find in the Apatow movies so much that I cant see it? Is it the nudity or the cursing? (whenever-whatever). Is it the hilarious jokes? (Forgive me for not laughing with the "where is Christ" joke, I have a thing with me religion, its called respect. Can I put a - beside my rating? ... More


Posted by kostas at 11:54, 15 September 2008 \| Report This Post



Am I The Only One?
Do You Know what it means to lose 2 hours of your life? What do you find in the Apatow movies so much that I cant see it? Is it the nudity or the cursing? (whenever-whatever). Is it the hilarious jokes? (Forgive me for not laughing with the "where is Christ" joke, I have a thing with me religion, its called respect. Can I put a - beside my rating? ... More


Posted by kostas at 11:50, 15 September 2008 \| Report This Post



RE: Deary me
it was a good film, although it is around 20 minutes too long, and Kristin Bell and Mila Kunis are underused and not written that well. puppet Dracula is hysterical and Jason Segal makes a very good leading man as he has the comedic timing of Carell or Rogen but with better looks. he also isn't afraid to get naked, which is either a good thig or a bad thing depending on who you are. ... More

Posted by bruce_banner at 17:50, 16 May 2008 \| Report This Post



Deary me
I got bored. Russel Brand stole all the funny lines and I don't even like him. A shame.. sadly, far from hilarious ... More


Posted by Dante3000 at 12:23, 14 May 2008 \| Report This Post



Deary me
I got bored. Russel Brand stole all the funny lines and I don't even like him. A shame.. but sadly, far from hilarious ... More


Posted by Dante3000 at 12:23, 14 May 2008 \| Report This Post




Had some good jokes, but not as good a Knocked Up. Still worth watching though. ... More


Posted by jonjon2nd at 19:40, 10 May 2008 \| Report This Post



RE: Formulaic Fun
font=arial]ing Sarah Marshall (2008, Nicholas Stoller)lign]/align]rial]After Up Superbads quite clear that producer Judd Apatow was on a bit of a role. He'd re-invented the rom-com genre, and was marking out his territory as the king of quirk. 2007 was his year, and as his first film to be brought out in 2008, ing Sarah Marshall ot to live up to. Compared to the quirky genius of d Knocked Up, Sarah Marshall tined to be that difficult third movie. So, does it live up to the very high standard s... More

Posted by Piles at 21:33, 09 May 2008 \| Report This Post



RE: Pretty Good
Wasn't expecting much from this. ( I wanted to see Iron Man but the vote was for this) so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I never rated The 40 Year Old Virgin and thought that this was a much better film. Still aint seen Knocked Up although I may have to check it out now. ... More

Posted by The REAL Bozz at 22:32, 04 May 2008 \| Report This Post



Average-Yeah Right
I'm sorry but it was just too damn hilarious. I should really knock some stars off for shoddy editing or other minor errors but to be honest I was too hysterical to notice! ... More


Posted by t_bell at 12:50, 04 May 2008 \| Report This Post



Enjoyable, but not worth the $10
The best aspect of the movie was Segalâ€™s attempt at making a situation that should not normally be laughed at, actually funny, because at times, I found myself and my friends laughing hysterically. But there were also several scenes where the entire theater was dead silent. The appearance of Segalâ€™s â€œgoodsâ€ were shockingly hilarious, creating an awkward mood on screen between his character and Kristen Bellâ€&#... More


Posted by topazzzz at 11:58, 02 May 2008 \| Report This Post



Loved it.
Funnier than I thought it would be, even thought I thought it would fall into the "alright" category. Everyone was good in it. Segel was very good. Brand was good as well. Paul Rudd and Jonah Hill both had me laughing at pretty much every scene there were in. What about Mila Kunis? Damn, she's nice and hot. And that's even next to Kristin Bell. ... More


Posted by VincentHanna at 21:50, 01 May 2008 \| Report This Post



Very average
Well, what can I say. Jason (look at my cock) Segel was bareble, Jonah Hill was wasted. The best things in this movie were Russell Brand and Paul Rudd who needed more screen time. I agree about the bad editing. The film should have been 90 minutes and this could be easily achieved by ending takes before they got overlong and unfunny. It was a decent movie, don't get me wrong, but comming off the back of Knocked Up and Superbad, I expected better. It just seemed too reliant on seeing a cock for s... More


Posted by Workshed at 14:13, 30 April 2008 \| Report This Post



Very average
Well, what can I say. Jason (look at my cock) Segel was bareble, Jonah Hill was wasted. The best things in this movie were Russell Brand and Paul Rudd who needed more screen time. I agree about the bad editing. The film should have been 90 minutes and this could be easily achieved by ending takes before they got overlong and unfunny. It was a decent movie, don't get me wrong, but comming off the back of Knocked Up and Superbad, I expected better. It just seemed too reliant on seeing a cock for s... More


Posted by Workshed at 14:13, 30 April 2008 \| Report This Post



boom operater
funny film, disastrous editing. who edited this? Stevie wonder? how did they not catch the multiple boom shots? whats worse is that it wasn't even given its own credit, as its performance was at least better than veronica mars ... More


Posted by lagedor at 07:19, 30 April 2008 \| Report This Post



boom operater
funny film, disastrous editing. who edited this? Stevie wonder? how did they not catch the multiple boom shots? whats worse is that it wasn't even given its own credit, as its performance was at least better than veronica mars ... More


Posted by lagedor at 07:19, 30 April 2008 \| Report This Post



RE:
Really funny and enjoyable film - was laughing throughout. Great cast but does that curly haired guy - it is Jonah Hill? - have to be in everything!!!! ... More


Posted by captain jack harknes at 11:06, 29 April 2008 \| Report This Post



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Forgetting Sarah MarshallAloha! The Apatow gang hit Hawaii

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Aloha! The Apatow gang hit Hawaii