Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Review By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is unforgettable, if for the only reason that the image of a naked Jason Segel is permanently burned into my brain. This daring act of exhibitionism bookends this funny yet painful comedy about relationship disasters, and serves to further fuel the main character’s humiliation and elicit uncomfortable laughter from the audience. Within the first 10 minutes, Segel is standing there in all his glory while his TV star girlfriend (Kristen Bell) of five years rips his heart out by dumping him flat.

Segel (the latest Freaks and Geeks alum to headline a Judd Apatow production) wrote the script and based a lot of it on personal experience. Yes, sadly, he really did experience the “naked breakup.” While the film is not as consistently hilarious as Knocked Up and Superbad, it feels more low-key and grounded in reality. It’s a smaller, quieter comedy, with a lot of heart and whole lot of pathetic, embarrassing moments.

Peter, a likeable, sensitive guy prone to couch-potato tendencies, takes the breakup very hard. He cries a lot and mopes around his house (even watching an episode of Project Runway brings him to tears), he has meaningless sex (and cries afterwards), and he goes ballistic at his job (composing the musical score for Sarah’s TV show, Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime) before finally deciding to take a vacation to clear his head. He picks a Hawaiian resort and yup, you guessed it, Sarah just happens to be staying at the same one with her new British-rocker boyfriend Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). Peter’s predicament is really quite sad, and it only gets worse before it gets better.

Rather than look like a coward by leaving, Peter decides to stay. Luckily, the beautiful concierge named Rachel (Mila Kunis) is there to cheer him up, as well as some other eccentric resort-folk. The always appreciated Paul Rudd plays Kunu, a stoner-surfer dude, Jonah Hill appears as an aspiring musician obsessed with Aldous Snow, and 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer plays a devout Christian on his honeymoon who’s completely clueless about sex.

The two main females—Bell and Kunis—manage to spin predictable stereotypes into something with depth. I liked how Sarah Marshall never becomes the cold-hearted bitch we’re expecting her to be. She’s insecure just like everyone else. Bell really shines in the scenes where those insecurities start to show: When she confronts Rachel at the front desk, when she confides in Peter about her fears after her show has been cancelled and the scene where she reveals to Peter how hard she tried to save their relationship.

Kunis also delivers an unexpectedly sweet performance as the regular, fun-loving