They say breaking up is hard to do, but that catchy song is just the tip of the iceberg compared to “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” the latest comedy about love and loss from producer Judd Apatow and director Nicholas Stoller.
Written by Jason Segel, best known for his scene-stealing role in last summer’s “Knocked Up” and his role as Marshall on “How I Met Your Mother,” Segel performs double duty as screenwriter and leading man, penning and acting out one of the most atrocious and … well … naked break-up scenes in recent pop culture history (reportedly based on one of his own past breakups).
Segel plays Peter Bretter, a musician who not only composes music for a network TV show but gets to go home with the show’s star, Sarah Marshall (played by Kristen Bell), that is until after five years together she dumps him for another man. In her absence Peter cries, cries and cries so much until his stepbrother urges him to get away for awhile. The lovelorn Peter ventures to a small island in Hawaii Sarah had always talked about and, of course, winds up running into his ex and her new beau, rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), and hilarity ensues.
Besides most of the unfamiliar lead cast, which also includes Mila Kunis as a local who catches Peter’s eye, many of Apatow’s regulars still make cameos but with decidedly mixed results. Jonah Hill and Bill Hader both portray thinly veiled imitations of their “Superbad” characters, although Paul Rudd of both “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” turns out another stand-out supporting role as a friendly surfboarding instructor with good intentions but a rather dim bulb for a brain.
While both Bell and Kunis make for semi-interesting yet tepid leading ladies, it is the two men at the forefront of the operation, Segel and Brand, who propel this film from sadly predictable to enjoyable. Even if it is because he wrote the script off of collected personal experiences, Segel creates a sincere straight man who exemplifies the definition of lovable loser. On the other hand, Brand steps in as Apatow’s new “McLovin” as Aldous, the crazed, clueless and narcissistic rock star, and takes every scene to new heights of equal hilarity and embarrassment.
Unfortunately, the fun stops there. Stoller aims to hit the same heart strings as Apatow’s “Knocked Up,” but falls a tad short. The dynamic between Peter and Sarah is finally explored and rightfully so ““ she is after all the supposed love of his life. However, the duo’s chemistry pales in comparison to Segel and Kunis and especially more notable famous fractured movie couples such as Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn’s jilted exes in “The Break Up.”
Once the film loses most of its funnier yet less necessary components like Brand and Rudd, it’s all downhill. Stoller and crew are simply left to tie up the loose ends and, while they get the job done, the production loses points for its lagging final act. While the film starts on a truly hilarious note thanks to Segel’s physical candor for his break-up scene, the ending misses the mark and leaves the audience out of the joke.
However, for those looking for an easily digestible comedy with no complicated or emotional strings attached, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is a promising cure for even the most painful of heartaches.