Blue Hawaii

Last Monday, they had a special advanced screening of the new Judd Apatow produced comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, at NC State's campus theater and I was lucky enough to check it out. I'm just sorry that it's taken me so long to write up my review for it. At this point, it's barely an early review (the film opens this Friday).

If you haven't seen the ads for this yet, the movie stars Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Knocked Up) as Peter,who's recently broken up with his girlfriend of five years, the titular Sarah Marshall, played by Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars, Heroes). Depressed over the break-up, Peter tries to find solace by going on vacation to Hawaii, but ends up staying at the exact same place that Sarah is staying at with her new boyfriend, a British, pretty-boy rocker named Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). And awkward hilarity ensues.

Now while the set-up may sound cliched or sitcom-y, the humor is anything but. This is a flat-out hilarious film. Virtually every scene that is intended to be humorous scores. Segel and Bell play well off each other as the exes who can't seem to get away from each other. But a number of the film's funny scenes come from a whole host of side characters, many of whom are Apatow regulars. Guys like Paul Rudd, Bill Hader, Jack McBrayer all show up and bring the funny. Jonah Hill, who I find to be very hit and miss, also has a few good lines as well (although he once again plays a character that gives off homosexual vibes, for some reason).

Mila Kunis, who's no stranger to comedy (That 70s Show, Family Guy) plays a hotel worker, who Peter begins to fall for. Looking tan-tastic in this film, she has very good chemistry with Segal and plays a nice romantic foil. And I have to give credit to relative unknown Russell Brand. He easily could have played the character as the Euro-trash boyfriend that everyone hates, but he provides a number of funny scenes as well that actually make him quasi-likeable.

While all the actors I have listed above are funny, their inclusion in the film makes things a bit crowded. I would not consider any of these people to have cameo roles. Each have developed characters and have several scenes devoted to them. Unfortunately, many of these characters are completely unnecessary and really do nothing to move the plot along. Aside from the four characters involved in the love rectangle, no one else in the film has a bearing on the primary storyline. They are just there simply to add laughs.

This brings us to the film's primary problem. With each scene I found myself laughing hysterically at what's happening and then when it ends, I think, 'wait, what did that have to do with anything?' I felt that maybe these side characters and subplots would have some callback as the film reached a conclusion, but that never happened. When the film reaches it's conventional conclusion, it comes as somewhat of a disappointment because I expected something more outrageous given the oddball scenes that preceded it.

So what Forgetting Sarah Marshall ends up being is your standard cheesy romantic comedy wrapped in the raunchy humor you've come to expect from an Apatow production. Now some will say that this is true of all his films, but there is definitiely a difference in quality in his films. This movie doesn't hold a candle to the The 40-Year Old Virgin (an unfortunate comparative burden that Apatow will now have to face with each new movie he produces and/or directs). While Virgin was consistenly funny, it also had a story that logically flowed from scene to scene, whereas this movie is consistently funny but meanders around for a while before reaching its conclusion. As has been typical of most Apatow films, this one could have used to lose a few minutes from its runtime.

I would be remiss if I also didn't give everyone a fair warning that this film certainly earned its R rating as there are multiple full frontal shots of Jason Segal in this movie. Are they funny scenes? For the most part, yes. Could I have done without them? Absolutely. You may be best served with having your hand shield your eyes, particularly in the film's opening moments.

If you are looking to laugh, then I whole heartedly recommend this film. You will not be disappointed. And really, this film wouldn't be seen as a disappointment at any level if it didn't have the Apatow name attached to it. Unfortunately at this point, the bar has been set so high that it will be tough to match, let alone surpass it. If you can allow yourself to watch it without making those comparisons, you'll likely do yourself a favor and really enjoy this movie.

One final disclaimer...please make sure you watch through the credits as there is one final scene somewhere in there that is especially funny and includes a cameo from one of my favorite comedic actors. Grade: B