“She got me this, okay, because I would always leave my cereal boxes open, and the cereal would get stale. And so one day I came home and she had this waiting for me, because it keeps my cereal fresh, and now I have the FRESHEST cereal.”
Has anyone else had the dream of creating and starring in a rock opera about Dracula with puppets? No, just me, jeez, guess I’ll just go f*** myself. I’m sorry, I mean Mahalo. Welcome to Hawaii. The decade of the 2000’s has in my subjective opinion, the best string of raunchy comedies that have ever existed. This film is definitely one of them as its characters are so funny and written exceptionally well, the studio decides to make a spinoff of a side character which is just as if not funnier than this. Granted the side character is more in focus than who the film is named after. This film, like many others has that Judd Apatow feeling to it, as he is credited as a producer. The difference between this film and the rest of the Apatow filmography (minus Knocked up) Forgetting Sarah Marshall gets a sequel / spinoff with only one returning character and two returning actors. My review of the spinoff Get Him to the Greek has been published as I wrote about that one first. I honestly couldn’t tell you which is funnier since both have multiple moments that can make you cry from laughing.
Peter is a struggling musician who is in a (from what we know) successful relationship with an actress Sarah Marshall. Sarah comes home from a work related trip and proceeds to break up with Peter stating that there’s someone else. With the help of his step-brother Brian, Peter tries to knock the depression by going out to bars to “Forget” Sarah Marshall (I feel like Peter from Family Guy in that one sketch when a character says the title of the movie while it’s happening) but, it doesn’t work. He’s just as sad even with all the one night stands. Brian brings up a different idea to Peter; take a vacation to Hawaii, he’s always wanted to go. To make matters worse, Peter checks into the same hotel Sarah is staying at, unbeknownst to him. Once Sarah realizes the same, we meet Aldous Snow, Sarah’s new fling. Rachel the hotel manager gives Peter the most expensive room to stay in for a few nights out of pity. Everywhere Peter goes, he always runs into Sarah and Aldous, it’s getting pretty hard to forget her. It’s not like he was stalking her (come on guys, who would want to do that?) it was just a not-so-happy coincidence.
Peter (Jason Segel) builds up the courage to ask Rachel (Mila Kunis; every time I say her name in my head I say it as Jabba the Hut from a Family Guy Star Wars. Don’t ask) to hangout. Peter and Rachel hit it off as she challenges Peter to do things he’s not comfortable with, one of them is to admit he hates scoring the show that Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) stars in. I mean, the man has a mental breakdown over doing the music for one scene after they split. At a bar, Rachel encourages Peter to sing one song from his Rock Opera, which she absolutely loves. Peter, being a broken man still weeks after the breakup, goes in for a kiss but ultimately gets rejected. During his stay Peter befriends a newly wed couple Darald (Jack McBrayer) who seems very timid about consummating his marriage and goes to Aldous for tips. Peter has now come out of his shell while at the hotel seeking surfing lessons from Chuck (Paul Rudd) and looks to go Hiking with Rachel.
Rachel really pushes Peter out of his comfort zone to jump off a cliff into the ocean but, hilariously clings to the rock before leapfrogging (or what’s supposed to be leapfrogging) into the ocean before sharing their first kiss together. Somehow the two couples end up going to the same restaurant together, Peter asks for Aldous and Sarah to join them where Matthew (Jonah Hill) waits on the party of 4. How could the night get even worse you ask? The 2 couples have a “who could be the loudest” contest, Aldous spills cranberry juice on the shirt Sarah gets him and Aldous admits he cheated on Sarah with a cleaning lady. Peter also finds out, after Aldous gets cut by Coral that Sarah has been cheating for over a year on him. Peter tries to comfort Sarah after Aldous leaves and goes a little too far with Sarah resulting in Peter being “dumped” by Rachel. Back in LA, Peter gets the motivation to finish his Dracula rock opera and invites Rachel. Surprisingly, she shows up to the show and meets him backstage in his dressing room.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall features tv stars we haven’t seen before on the big screen in Mila Kunis, Jason Segel and Kristen Bell. Jason Segel is the star of this film as his portrayal of Peter is an underdog who makes you root for him every step of the way. Being with someone who cheats is especially hard on a person when you have to be in the same place as them and still see that person every day. He’s trying so hard to get over her but, she’s always right there as a constant reminder of what she did to him. Watching this film now makes me realize that Peter is almost exactly like Marshall Eriksen (Jason’s character on the sitcom How I Met your Mother). He sort of gets typecast as this big goofball in another comedy I Love You, Man. Jonah Hill is one of my favorite actors and has some of the best dialogue in this film whether its going back and forth with Aldous (Russell Brand) or Peter.
Jack McBrayer is so weird but hilarious at the same time as you don’t actually know if his character has ever had sex before (reminds me of The 40 Year Old Virgin) as he is reluctant to be with his new wife. The flashbacks are perfect, and they cut up the story and add more humor as we unravel what Sarah and Peter’s relationship was actually like. I feel we can all relate to Peter in this film (thanks quarantine, *rolls eyes*) when he’s in his sweatpants eating a giant bowl of cereal and watching tv. Mila is captivating and down to earth as Rachel whereas Kristen as Sarah is pretty much unlikeable but still has a charm to her.
Overall, It’s difficult for me to say which film I like more, this or Get Him to the Greek as both are so hilarious. The concept of making that spinoff was so intriguing to me with having Russell Brand reprise his Aldous Snow as the lead and Jonah Hill playing an entirely different character. only similarity being both of Jonah Hill’s characters are borderline stalking obsessed with Aldous. I think the story is fleshed out better in this film as Get Him to the Greek comes off wilder than it should be. This film is more grounded and paints these characters as more relatable. One of my favorite scenes is the end scene of Peter performing his Rock Opera, its creepy and sad yet strangely funny. This film is completely rewatchable as I have seen it multiple times; there’s something about these Apatow comedies that I can never get enough of, they won’t get old to me. If I were to rate Forgetting Sarah Marshall I’d rate it a 4.2 out of 5. Slightly better than its successor and just as funny.
So, tell me guys, have you seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall and if so, what do you think about it? Do you agree or disagree with me? Comment below or send me an email and let me know what you think.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall is written by Jason Segel and directed by Nicholas Stoller is Rated R and has an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. Forgetting Sarah Marshall was released on March 10th, 2008 and has a runtime of 1 hour and 58 minutes. Heat can be bought online by retailers including Vudu and Itunes.
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