Review: Forgetting Sarah Marshall

(Spoiler Alert!)

From seeing the commercial for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, anyone can pretty much predict the way this film is going to go. You can tell that it's your typical boy loses girl, boy tries to get over girl, boy and girl accidentally bump into each other, boy needs help of another girl to get over the first girl and ends up falling in love with other girl before the first girl realizes she was wrong. (Follow? - Ed.) Not much is left to the imagination, though the commercial does spare viewers the first-hand knowledge filmgoers will get of said boy's genitalia.

However, for all that we know heading into the film there’s still plenty more to delight audiences. Forgetting Sarah Marshall's strength lies in the execution of the plot and comedic prowess, as well as it's likable, believable performances from it's principles: Jason Segal, Kristen Bell, and Mila Kunis. Not to mention the hilarious Russell Brand as Bell's not so new vacuous rock star boyfriend. The film provides a consistent string of laughs thanks to what this reviewer thought was a stellar script written by the film's male lead. While the story focuses on how the male character has been wronged, it also does an excellent job of not being dismissive of Segal's character’s own obvious faults. Segal does a good job of writing and portraying the spurned, sweet, charming yet not completely innocent every man and is aided ably by not only his supporting cast but by usual Apatow bit players like Jonah Hill and the always hilarious Paul Rudd as a bartender/Surf Instructor.

Perhaps the only filler in the movie was the plotline featuring Christian newlyweds played by Jack McBrayer and Maria Thayer (a.k.a. Strangers With Candy's Tammi Littlenut,) which probably meant to serve as a comedic diversion in case audiences thought Segal's character was too depressing, but actually just served as an opportunity insert sex jokes.

While there's certainly been a lot of filler in this review, the best thing I can say about Forgetting Sarah Marshall's redeeming look at the "you don't what you got ‘til it's gone" relationship story is that there was nary a moment in the theater that this reviewer didn't have a smile on his face, and if that doesn't speak volumes, I'm not sure what does. In other words, go see it, you'll laugh.

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