Movie Review: Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell & Mila Kunis
Released: April 18th, 2008
Runtime: 1 hr. 52 min.
Ticket Price: $7.50 Matinee
Refreshments: Red Vines
Starring: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand & Bill Hader
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Rating: Worth an Early Matinee
Synopsis: A musician that hates his job providing the soundtrack to a hit TV show gets dumped by his famous TV star girlfriend that stars in that show. Devastated, he takes a trip at the prompting of his friend. Unfortunately, he decides on Hawaii and a resort that his ex used to talk about all the time and she is already there with her new British rocker boyfriend. He decides to stay and starts hanging out with a beautiful hotel employee.
Review: Forgetting Sarah Marshall leaves me perplexed. I can remember laughing a lot throughout the movie, which is good thing for a comedy. But, I can’t remember a lot of what I laughed at, which isn’t so good. I am torn, as I came away thinking it was funny enough, but also that I didn’t particularly like it all that much.
Don’t know if it was the directing, the editing, the script or some combination of the three, but the movie just doesn’t have a very good flow to it. There are some very funny moments, but also some cringe inducing unfunny ones. I kept waiting and wanting to really like it, because I actually like most of the people starring in it, but it just never happened.
Jason Segel (TV’s How I Met Your Mother), who both stars in and wrote the script, shows some real comic wit, when he isn’t incessantly flashing full frontal. He plays the lead, Peter Bretter, who gets dumped and heads for Hawaii. On the downside though, what kind of guy writes himself a starring vehicle where the only nudity in it is his? That’s just strange.
There were some moments in the movie that stand out, on the positive side. Like his Dracula rock opera, which was great. The hybrid Law & Order: SVU/CSI cop show scenes were outstanding. And, don’t leave right away when the credits roll, or you’ll miss the preview of Animal Instincts, the new fake fall series on NBC. Some of the best comedy in the movie comes from the skewering of TV and Hollywood conventions.
Also, Kristen Bell (TV’s Veronica Mars) is very good, as usual, but it is weird seeing one of my favorite TV heroines playing the girl you aren’t supposed to like and actually not liking her. I guess that shows how good she really is. She plays, Sarah Marshall, the TV star that dumps Peter and heads to Hawaii with her new boyfriend.
Unexpectedly, Mila Kunis (TV’s That ‘70s Show), who plays hotel employee Rachel Jansen that falls for Peter, turned out to be very good, as well. She shows she can play something other than annoying. The scene in the bar where she gets Peter up on stage to sing a song from his, in development, rock opera is terrific. Her watching him embarrass himself, but you can see she gets him and the song and you just can’t take your eyes off of her.
One of the best things in the movie is the small part played by Jack McBrayer (TV’s 30 Rock), even if he is just pretty much playing the same character he plays on TV. Also, Bill Hader (TV’s Saturday Night Live) has some good lines playing off of Segel.
Now for the things that weren’t so great. They include the over-the-top British rocker played by Russell Brand (Penelope), the creepy hotel employee played by Jonah Hill (Superbad), and as mentioned before, Segel’s full frontal.
As with a lot of nudity in films, it usually isn’t needed to move the story forward, or in this case, to try and create some comedy. Forgetting Sarah Marshall plays at being a bawdy sex comedy with plenty of raunchy sex scenes, but it has no nudity, except for a few peeks at Peter’s peter, which isn’t part of any of those scenes. It’s similar to the sex montage in Good Luck Chuck from last year, which was unfunny and unneeded, but in that case, full of female nudity. Creating groans and gasps, but no laughs is not what the moviegoer is looking for in a comedy, as shock does not equal funny.
Overall, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is worth seeing at some point, but in the long run won’t end up being very memorable. Well, at least not for being funny, even though, for the most part, it is.
What did you think of Forgetting Sarah Marshall? Let us know in the comments.
What New Movies Start Friday, April 18th?
This week, there are six new movies hitting the big screen. Three are opening everywhere and three are in limited release.
Opening Nationwide on Friday, April 18th:
Movie: 88 Minutes (R)
Starring: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman & William Forsythe
Genre: Thriller
Synopsis: A college professor that also acts as a FBI forensic psychiatrist receives a threat that he is going to die in 88 minutes. At first he thinks it is a hoax, but then must use all his training and skills to figure out who is behind it. Could it be a disgruntled student, an ex lover, or a serial killer he helped put away? He has to figure it out before time runs out.
First Thoughts: After watching the trailer, I wanted to go see this. But, then I read that it has been sitting on a shelf for more than a year and has already been released on DVD in many parts of the world. Also, it takes 106 minutes to tell the story of 88 Minutes. Somehow I don’t think there is 18 minutes of setup before he gets the threatening phone call, so it doesn’t look like it runs in real time, which is what really interested me in the first place.
Movie: The Forbidden Kingdom (PG-13)
Starring: Jackie Chan & Jet Li
Genre: Fantasy Action Adventure
Synopsis: An American teenager that is a big fan of Hong Kong kung-fu movies discovers the ancient weapon of the Monkey King, a Chinese sage and warrior from the past, in a Chinatown pawnshop. He gets transported back in time with the weapon and ends up part of a mission to break a man out of prison.
First Thoughts: It is a martial arts movie with Jackie Chan and Jet Li with what looks like a little comedy thrown in. Sounds like fun to me.
Movie: Forgetting Sarah Marshall (R) (Read Review)
Starring: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand & Bill Hader
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Synopsis: A struggling musician has just been dumped by his famous TV star girlfriend, Sarah Marshall. So, in an attempt to get his life back together, he takes a trip to Hawaii to get his mind off her. Unfortunately, it turns out that his ex and her new rocker boyfriend are staying at the same hotel.
First Thoughts: It stars people from two of my favorite TV shows, Bell from Veronica Mars
Movies in Limited Release:
- The Life Before Her Eyes - Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood in a psychological thriller about a woman still trying to deal with a traumatic act of violence that occurred during high school, some 15 years ago.
- Pathology - Milo Ventimiglia, Alyssa Milano and Lauren Lee Smith in a crime thriller about a group of med students that are playing a deadly game. One in which, one of them commits the perfect murder and the rest compete to figure out the cause of death.
- Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? – The Super Size Me guy, Morgan Spurlock, goes on the hunt for bin Laden, but first he tries to learn everything about him in this documentary.
For New Movie Friday there are three new movies to choose from this week. They are 88 Minutes, Forbidden Kingdom and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. What new movie looks good to you this week?
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