Forgetting Sarah Marshall

I know what you’re thinking- “That’s a funny way to spell Pineapple Express”. I didn’t get to see “Pineapple Express”. Why? Well, since I’m not an awesome paid reviewer who gets escorted to film showings, I rely on friends to get me there. Friends with crappy cars. So the crappy car crapped out on us and I spent the evening freezing my ‘nads off instead of (hopefully) laughing them off. Ah well. My “Pineapple Express” review will be up soon though- I promise. Until then I bought “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and will now post my thoughts thusly. Zounds!

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

I’m not sure why, but I went into “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” with low hopes. I think it maybe because of the “ultimate break-up film” tagline it was advertising itself to be. I normally avoid Romcoms (but I love Rom-zom-coms) as a genre anyway- sure there are good ones out there, but they are lost in a seemingly never-ending sea of liquid shite (I apologise for that mental image). I wasn’t too sure when I heard that Russell Brand had been cast. The man’s a funny guy, but I’d never seen his acting and there’s nothing sadder than watching what is referred to in gaming culture terms as a “n00b” flail around trying to look like they are acting.

“When life gives you lemons, just say “Fuck the lemons!”‘ and bail.”

The basic story is that broken-hearted Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) travels to Hawaii to try and forget about his break-up with TV actress Sarah Marshall (Kristin Bell). Unfortunately, Sarah is there too- with her new British rocker boyfriend Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). The set-up is a sound one and while it does seem familiar, it’s not too familiar.

Biggest surprise of the film for me was Russell Brand. I would like to go against all the reviews I’ve read and say that he was bad, but I can’t. He was great. When I heard about his casting I was expecting a lot of British jokes at his expense and him to be forced into a suit and drink tea. Luckily, Brand pretty much played himself and the film was all the better for it. A breakout performance if ever there was one. The other standout performance for me was Mila Kunis. She’s been threatening to break the bigtime for a while now and I hope that this film and the forthcoming “Max Payne” does it for her. She’s a great actress who deserves more attention.

“How you served five years under her, I don’t know. You deserve a medal, or a holiday or at least a cuddle from somebody.”

The one thing that bugged me about “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is it was like a game of “Oh, that’s the guy/girl from…” Maybe it’s because I’ve seen all the Apatow masterminded/produced films but I kept being taken out of the film to remember where I knew the actor/actress on screen from. I was like “Oh, that’s the guy from “Superbad”, and that’s the guy from “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and that’s the guy from…“

All in all though, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is a funny, entertaining film. Personally, I felt it could have been funnier in places but I never glanced down at my watch during its (surprisingly long) 112 minute runtime. Good stuff.

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