Last night Denis and I watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall, written by and starring Jason (“How I Met Your Mother”) Segel as a man who has been dumped by his tv star girlfriend (played by “Veronica Mars” star Kristen Bell) in a most humiliating way (read: he was naked at the time). To escape the pain, he heads to Hawaii for a vacation – only to find his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend staying at the same resort.
The premise is a real one – Jason Segel has said that he wrote the movie after being dumped in that most humilating way and heading to Hawaii to work through the pain. And he did a good job – it was a VERY funny movie. Completely inappropriate for young kids (there is a LOT of sexual humor, as well as several full frontal nude shots of Jason Segel), this movie still managed to charm me because Jason Segel is such a likeable actor and you WANT him to find happiness. He put a good cast together – besides himself and Bell, Mila (“That 70s Show”) Kunis, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd (whom I love), Jack (Kenneth on “30 Rock”) McBrayer and comedian Russell Brand (who is VERY strange) also star in the movie, while Billy Baldwin and Jason Bateman make very funny cameos.
This is a Judd Apatow production. If you recall, he is responsible for “Knocked Up,” “Superbad” and “The 40 Year Old Virgin.” So you can see what kind of humor this movie will have. It’s low-brow, for sure. As I said – NOT for shy audiences at all (in fact – Jen – do NOT rent this movie). But despite the low humor, it has moments of poignancy and earnestness as Jason Segel’s character slowly realizes he was NEVER meant to be with Sarah Marshall.
A good rental – if you can handle the over-the-top sexuality of the movie. 3 1/2 vampire puppet musicals out of five.
Have no fear. I have no plans to rent this one.
I liked it too. 3 and a 1/2 stars is a fair rating.
We saw that movie the night it came out…we’re suckers for the location, since we spend so much time at the Turtle Bay Resort. 🙂
It was a sweet movie…typical Judd Apatow. I thought it was way better than Knocked Up, but not nearly as good as The 40-Year Old Virgin. Some movies are classics in their genre…