It’s no easy task creating a genuinely funny comedy. Most of the time, movies will follow amongst the common footsteps of recycled jokes and overused humor conventions. The films that fall the hardest are the ones that compromise human interaction for meaningless humor. Today, there’s only one working producer in Hollywood who has found a way to get the best of both worlds. Known for the unique original comedies like “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up”, Judd Apatow knows what it takes to produce a daring new comedy like “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”
Being tagged as the ultimate romantic disaster movie, it is easily one of those stories not often told. As a film about an ordinary guy being dumped by his famous girlfriend, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” goes the extra mile in cleverly showing you how devastating a situation can become. Peter, our grief-stricken protagonist, can’t quite find a TV station or even a land mass without something that reminds him of his ex-dreamgirl, Sarah Marshall. Note his predicament when his spontaneous trip to Hawaii puts him in the heart of Sarah’s own getaway trip with her new rock-star boyfriend.
Beginning with a barrage of gag jokes, it’s Jason Segel’s affable personality that levitates the film from an ordinary raunchy comedy to a humorously genuine, character-driven story. As a role that hints more at the conflicts surrounding male insecurities, Peter shows audiences how the most powerful jokes can come when the humor is directed at an understood reality rather than fabricated one-liners and outlandish characters.
Even among its smart construction of character-driven laughs, it goes without forgetting the greatness we usually witness in Apatow-directed films. “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”, which is merely produced by Apatow, is not without its common conventional flaws. Even though the film only begins to lose its strength during the final act, the culmination of events are slightly incomplete and predictable. Still, as an Apatow production with a familiar cast and signature humor, it’s easy to get lost in the authenticity of this clever narrative.
THE ITINERARY
Letter Grade: B
Rated R for sexual content, language and some graphic nudity.
Runtime: 112 min.
Starring: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand and Bill Hader
Director: Nicholas Stoller
