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Review: “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”
By Kyle | April 17, 2008
FUNNIER THAN “GANDHI”
Kyle Smith review of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”
Rated R/110 minutes
Writing the screenplay and starring in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” Jason Segel gets emotionally naked. He bares his soul for us. And he lets us see his schlong. As Steve Martin said, comedy is not pretty.
Nor is it easy to come up with a simple, warm, consistently engaging and very funny comedy. Another writer might have thought up a Dracula puppet musical. But what if the guy who wrote the musical actually cared about it? What if it was his life’s work? What if it wasn’t just funny: wouldn’t that make it so much funnier?
The same goes for Segel’s willingness to let his dingly-danglies show: hilarious as the nude male body is, it’s also pathetic.
The girl of the title (“Veronica Mars” star Kristen Bell, who through no fault of her own possesses a molded-plastic prettiness that makes it hard for her to be interesting) is an actress who stars in a “CSI: Miami” clone (her costar, played by Billy Baldwin, indulges heavily in the abuse of sunglasses and one-liners). At the start of the movie, she dumps Peter (Segel), a nice but somewhat erratic guy who composes the show’s score–not music, really, but tones of menace. When she dumps him, he’s wearing nothing but a towel, and soon not even that; with the camera on his face, he does a little dance that produces a sort of mackerel-slapping sound issuing from the upper-thigh region, and after a moment an additional cast member makes an appearance.
The L’il Peter sighting delights the audience, but the scene tips us off that this will be a light, sweet date comedy built on pain. So it goes with the Judd Apatow school (Segel’s friend produced this film and “Superbad” and wrote and directed “The 40-Year Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up;” Segel often plays supporting roles in Apatow films). The Apatovians also understand how to be filthy: sometimes the dirtiest words are the ones that go unsaid. “I need to B my L on someone’s T’s,” the lonely Peter tells his step-brother and confessor (“SNL”’s Bill Hader, who is the new Dan Aykroyd just as Segel is the new Judge Reinhold).
To aid the forgetting process, Peter goes to Hawaii, only to discover that Sarah is staying at the same hotel –with her new guy. That’s “kind of messed up,” says a friendly desk clerk (Mila Kunis), comping Peter on a suite.
As in the other Apatow movies, no role is wasted or merely sketched out; Sarah’s new guy, for instance, at first seems to be just an airheaded rocker guy with a hit song about loving everyone. But English actor Russell Brand plays him with cruel wit and self-mockery and so much confidence that even Peter can’t help noticing: the man is the coolness. Brand has star written all over him, and Kunis, whose hotel worker strikes up a just-buddies relationship with Peter, is almost as good, with all of the easy-to-laugh, guys’ girl appeal of Cameron Diaz in her early movies. Hovering around the periphery are important utility players on Team Apatow (Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd) who contribute big funny whenever they pop up. Often, so many talents are working it in the same scene that the movie’s like the cinematic equivalent of a greatest hits album. Where are the boring parts?
“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” wraps itself up with one of its weaker scenes and it isn’t quite as explosively hilarious as “Knocked Up” or “Superbad,” but those are two of the greatest comedies ever. Halfway through, I knew I was going to be watching it many more times. By the end, you will not be able to disagree when someone says of Segel’s character, “This guy’s like Gandhi. But better. He likes puppets.”
March 28th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Well said. You forgot to mention Jack McBrayer’s great turn as the God-fearing newlywed who can’t satisfy his wife on their honeymoon. But such is the embarrassment of comic riches here …
April 10th, 2008 at 12:57 am
I just saw this film and did not stop laughing the entire movie, the whole time I was captivated by two stunningly beautiful women and was taken for a comedic ride. This movie does not rival anchorman but a strong case could be made for a rivalry with 40 year old virgin or other Apatow greats. Judd Apatow, is simply stated; a genius!
April 10th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
[...] his soul. Also, he lets us see his schlong. As Steve Martin said, comedy is not pretty. – Kyle Smith « Another Tropic Thunder Movie Poster [...]
April 15th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Russell Brand is going to be a huge star after Sarah Marshall. Judd Apatow is already writing a picture for him to star in.
April 16th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Kyle: In case you have doubts of Kristen Bell’s ability to be “interesting”, I highly recommend “Veronica Mars” on DVD, esp. the first two seasons; her appealing wise-assed sass is what separates her from the soulless likes of not-great Kates Hudson and Bosworth…
April 28th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
If the funniest scene in the movie (they use it in the trailer, so it has to be one of the best) is directly lifted from Steve Martin’s classic, The Lonely Guy, then Apatow is neither funny or a genius. The scene where he asks for a table for one at the restaurant and then is called attention to is directly lifted from Martin’s film, The Lonely Guy. Just because Steve is in the film doesn’t add any creativity to it. If sampling is what passes for ‘genius’ in Hollywood these days, I’ll just read a book.