Life > May 1, 2008

By CeCe Brooks | Life editor

If you’ve liked any of the Judd Apatow’s previous films (Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin), I’m fairly certain you will like this movie. It’s got that mix of romance that the girls want and raunchiness the guys love.

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Be warned though, similar to Knocked Up there is that one scene, or in this case two scenes, you might want to be prepared for. Everyone knows what I’m talking about; you know you were warned about the birthing scene in Knocked Up. Well, let’s just say that if you don’t want to see “all” of star Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother), I would advise some caution during the beginning and ending scenes.

Peter (Jason Segel) is a composer who makes his living by creating the “dark, ominous tones” for the hit TV show Crime Lab, the star of which just happens to be his girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell).

As a passion project, Peter has been composing a rock musical about Dracula. Oh yeah, and he wants there to be puppets.

After we see Peter lounging around his apartment, he gets a call from Sarah. He quickly cleans up and as he gets out of the shower, he realizes she’s arrived.

His excitement quickly turns to dread when she says, “we need to talk.”

After Peter refuses to get clothed and begs her to stay, Sarah reveals that there’s another man and runs away.

After weeks of awkward one-night stands and a mental breakdown on the job, Peter decides to go away to Hawaii.

When he arrives, he gets the nasty surprise that Sarah is there with her new boyfriend, hip British pop star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), who we later find out she was sleeping with a year before she broke up with Peter. Aldous, with his mellow attitude, never seems to grasp the awkwardness of the situation.

With encouragement from his stepbrother Brian (Bill Hader), Peter begins to make friends around the resort and begins spending time with the cute concierge, Rachel (Mila Kunis).

Rachel pushes him to not only get over Sarah Marshall but to realize that he can do things to make himself happy.

Predictably, Sarah realizes that she made a mistake with Aldous and wants Peter back. However, by that point Peter realizes that he was actually so in love with Sarah because of the many things he ignored about her and their relationship.

I won’t divulge the ending, but I will say it is easy enough to see coming. However the movie avoids having the love part represent the complete happily ever after, which is so common in romantic comedies. I will talk about the acting later, but I believe the writing, ironically written by star Jason Segel, was the best part of this movie.

Some funny quips include, “She’s complicated, like The Da Vinci Code, except harder to crack,” “He’s like Gandhi! But better – he likes puppets” and some others not fit for print.

Regarding the acting, most of the stars were very entertaining, especially some of those with minor roles such as Jack McBrayer (30 Rock) as Darald, yet some of the leads felt like odd choices to me. Maybe that’s the genius of Judd Apatow though.

I am still torn whether or not I think Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars and Heroes) was an appropriate choice for Sarah Marshall. I can’t tell if it was the character or the acting I didn’t like. Yes she’s gorgeous and believable as a television star, but she just seemed misplaced. Maybe I just don’t want to let go of Veronica Mars. Mila Kunis (That ‘70s Show), apart from an overkill tan, was very good as Rachel.

On the opposite end, I feel that Russell Brand was perfect for the role of Aldous Snow with the mellow attitude that no one can seem to decide is cool or just annoying. (P.S. – If you think he’s a bit too into the make-up in the movie take a look at some pictures of him in real life.) Some amusing cameos were made by Billy Baldwin and Jason Bateman as TV detectives alongside Sarah Marshall.

Even if you don’t enjoy it, there’s a fun game you can play. It’s like “Where’s Waldo.” Similar to how Adam Sandler always has the same couple of guys in all the movies he produces, Judd Apatow is showing a similar trend in his movies. Jonah Hill, Bill Hader and Paul Rudd all had at least small roles. I half expected Seth Rogen to pop up in a corner.

I cannot guarantee universal approval of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but it made me laugh and since that is a rare thing for me, I at least enjoyed it.