FORGETTING SARAH MARSHAL
We’ve all had that friend who, after a break-up, becomes a miserable and depressed whiner who feels that everything is now meaningless and null. Perhaps, if we’re honest, we might admit to having been that person ourselves. In Forgetting Sarah Marshal the dumped sad sac is Peter Bretter (Jason Segal) and he’s just been left by Sarah (Kristen Bell), his TV star girlfriend, for another man.
The premise that three weeks later the two will, by chance, happen to both end up in the same Hawaii hotel – Sarah now with new love (Russel Brand) – is a bit thin, but well worth accepting for the sake of the story.
For an Apatow production Forgetting Sarah Marshal is comparatively tame on smut and rudeness. Don’t be mistaken, it’s still there so don’t take your grandmother, but the story scenarios are amusing enough so it doesn’t have to rely on cheap gags to keep things rolling.
The film also presents some great supporting characters including sex-struggling newly-weds, a geeky advice-giving step-brother, and a weed smoking surf instructor. Yet it’s Russel Brand’s performance as rock star Aldous Snow – apparently not too far from Brand’s reality – that often brings the best moments.
1/2