Forgetting Sarah Marshall

I've been wanting to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall since it came out and finally got a chance to last night. I also wanted to see Baby Mama, but my friend heard from other people that it sucked, so we went to see this instead. One of the reasons why I had wanted to see this was because I loved Jason Segel in Freaks and Geeks.

Produced by Judd Apatow (who, except for a couple of misses is pretty much Midas right now), the film is Nicholas Stoller's directorial debut and is written by the film's star Jason Segel. Segel is Peter Bretter, an unhappy, slacker t.v. show composer, who is dumped by his famous television star girlfriend Sarah Marshall (the lovely Kristen Bell). After wallowing at home for three weeks, he decides to go to Hawaii for a vacay hoping to take his mind off of her when he bumps into her and her new famous rock star boyfriend, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) and finds they are both staying at the same resort.


Peter is still in his funk when the resort staff, hearing about his situation, befriend him and try to keep him busy and his mind off of Sarah. One of the people who helps him do that is the friendly, hospitable and drop dead gorgeous front desk clerk, Rachel Jansen (Mila Kunis). The other staff who helps Peter includes the burnt out surfing instructor, Chuck (Paul Rudd), the hilarious bartender, Dwayne (Davon McDonald) and Matthew, the waiter (Jonah Hill), who actually doesn't help Peter out so much as he does fawn all over Aldous.


I loved this movie and thought it was hilarious. I'm always up for a flick where someone has their heart shattered and has to navigate the waters while they are recovering. Segel is such a lovable loser and awfully brave for agreeing to the naked scenes. This movie will definitely have people asking, "why isn't Mila Kunis in more films?". I'm not familiar with Russell Brand, but apparently he is a comedian of some sort in England. I found him to be super funny as the male bimbo rock star Aldous. Paul Rudd was also hilarious, as well as the bartender, Dwayne, who I am shocked to see only has a few teeny credits on his imdb page, because he is sooo funny. Bill Hader was good as Peter's stepbrother/friend who tries to help him out at home and over the webcam and phone while he is in Hawaii.


There is a lot of sex and vulgar humour, so if that isn't your bag, you might want to skip it. I find with Apatow, he's a little hit or miss with me. I LOVED The 40 Year Old Virgin and Superbad, but didn't care so much for Knocked Up, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story or Drillbit Taylor. This was definitely a hit with me and wasn't totally predictable. I can also see it being on Budget Travel Magazine's Movie Quest list, the movies the magazine picks as most travel inspiring films. Hawaii is definitely a character in this film and makes me want to hop over there to check out the natural beauty and learn to surf. Sooo hard picking out a quote for this one because there were so many great one liners, but I will go with the part where Chuck is giving Peter a surfing lesson while they have a philosophical talk about life........

Chuck: When life gives you lemons, just say 'Fuck the lemons,' and bail.

More ramblings to come.....