Slowly but
surely, Judd Apatow the Producer is breaking my heart. In my
reviews for Walk
Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Drillbit
Taylor, I commented on just how disappointing it was to see
the same man who brought us The
40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked
Up, and Superbad now
backing the very cruddy comedy his previous works were
antitheses of. Now, he has slapped his name on Forgetting
Sarah Marshall, which isn’t nearly as bad as the previous
two catastrophes, but it still falls considerably flat in the
humor department. Yes, the movie has its fair share of chuckles
and, yes, it offers a superior night at the cinema than fellow
“comedies” Superhero
Movie and College
Road Trip. Still, most will leave the movie feeling
extraordinarily unsatisfied, especially if they’re aware of the
pedigree that accompanies the Apatow brand-name.
Then again, why
should I be critical of Apatow for merely producing mediocre
works? Using that logic, I’d have to condemn Steven Spielberg
for doing the same for Memoirs
of a Geisha, as I would Francis Ford Coppola for Jeepers
Creepers II. I certainly never thought to do anything of the
sort when those films were released. Assessing my judgment on
the issue, my malcontent towards Apatow is probably unwarranted;
after all, his poor choices came back to bite him when Walk
Hard and Drillbit
Taylor tanked at
the box-office. Still, it remains hard for me not to look at Forgetting
Sarah Marshall as
a colossal disappointment. Apatow’s presence in Hollywood has
come to symbolize a beacon of hope for mainstream comedy; never
have I laughed harder at The Movies than during screenings of
the aforementioned beloved works he has contributed to.
The protagonist of Forgetting
Sarah Marshall is
not the titular character, but Peter Bretter (Jason Segel, who
also wrote the film), a menially-used music-composer for a
tacky-NBC crime-drama. Superstar Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell)
stars in this crime-drama and is also Peter’s beloved
girlfriend. Despite being something of a loser—in the film’s
opening sequence, we observe him moping around the house naked,
eating a giant bowl of fruit loops, and watching
music-videos—Peter never questions Sarah’s undying faithfulness
toward him. He is working up the courage to ask her to marry
him. Before Peter can do this, however, Sarah dumps him in favor
of a fling-opportunity with the ridiculous, self-absorbed
British-pop-star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). Desperate to clear
his head, Peter books a vacation to Hawaii, only to find Sarah
and Aldous also there. Solace, however, comes in the form of the
hotel desk clerk, Rachel (Mila Kunis), who he may just be
falling in love with. Rachel’s everyday presence comforts Peter
while he copes with his startling break-up.
Part of the reason
why Forgetting
Sarah Marshall isn’t
successful to the degree that Knocked
Up and Superbad were
is because of the fact that it contains about half the substance
of those films. Writer Segel and director Nicholas Stoller both
follow Unspoken Apatow Rule #1—“Always be sure to provide enough
drama in order to forge a rich enough background for the comedy
to be funny”—but they only do so in a trivial sense. By the end
of Forgetting
Sarah Marshall, the viewer only begins to care for Peter in
a way that transcends sympathizing for his cartoonish loserdom.
For the rest of the movie’s duration, they’re merely left to
deal with the character’s antics, which are largely whiny and
sometimes even irritating.
When the cast and
crew are able to deliver material that proves effective enough
to overpower Forgetting
Sarah Marshall’s blasé whole, however, the movie is really good.
A particular sequence involving Dracula and puppets—I can’t find
it in my heart to say anything more because I would be spoiling
the scene—is gut-busting and smartly hilarious. Another instance
in which the movie excels beyond the sum of its parts is in the
performance of Mila Kunis, who is sexy, charming, and entirely
believable in her role as Peter’s newfound love interest. I
suspect that the part will garner Kunis far more attention than
her FOX-gigs on “That 70’s Show” and “Family Guy” have in the
past. Still, for the few small moments in which Forgetting
Sarah Marshall touches
upon the greatness of better Apatow-produced comedies, there are
dozens of others in which it comes across as unfunny and boring.
Even when the Apatow regulars—this time Jonah Hill and Paul
Rudd—show up, their cameo-appearances seem more obligatory than
they are humor-based. Even if it isn’t painful or disastrous, Forgetting
Sarah Marshall is,
as its title would suggest, a motion-picture that is best left
forgotten.
-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews
Review Published on: 4.6.2008
Screened on: 4.11.2008
at the Mann Chinese 6 in Hollywood, CA.