Film Reviews

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

• Rating:
• Director: Nicolas Stoller
• Starring: Jason Segal
• Details: US / 112mins (12A)

Sensitive musician Peter (Segal) is strolling through life, afraid to drop his secure but soul-destroying job as a composer of the hit TV show that stars his beautiful girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Bell). When Sarah suddenly breaks up with him, his comfort zone suffers an earthquake and he retreats to Hawaii to take his mind off his troubles. Once there though, he continuously bumps into Sarah and her new extravagant rock-star boyfriend (Brand) who happen to be holidaying in the same resort. If that plot synopsis was regurgitated without the knowledge that this was a Judd Apatow production firmly in the vein of Knocked Up and Superbad, then quite frankly, you'd be forgiven for avoiding it like an aggressive hoodrat on a traffic-halted bus. Alas, the undeniable calibre of the creative forces involved has thankfully rendered this production a huge success. Everyone here gives a more than solid performance, thanks to a wonderfully full script and consistent direction. But the real star is writer/leading man Jason Segal, who repeats the Seth Rogen feat of taking on dual roles to tremendously satisfactory effect. His script has more than enough layers to feel real yet funny, while giving every character their due, and never taking the tempting shortcut of making the main supporting players one-dimensional punchlines. While we sympathise with his scenario, we also learn to and understand Sarah's - something that is extremely invigorating for a romantic comedy. Predominantly, though, it is a comedy and a hilarious one at that. Segal offers up most of the laughs as he bares more than his soul, while Kunis, Bell and Brand can't be faulted for their eclectic, entertaining turns. Forgetting Sarah Marshall really feels like one of those comedies that will age like a fine wine, seemingly set to improve with each revisit on DVD. As it stands now though, it's another smart theatrical comedy from the Apatow crew that can sit proudly alongside the best of the bunch.

Review by Mike Sheridan