Movie Review: Forgetting Sarah Marshall

I third wheeled it on a my sister's date with her husband on Friday night and we saw 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall'. I went in with very low expectations; figured all the good laughs had been in the trailer. I was wrong.

The movie starts with the nude breakup scene that is in the trailer, gets a bit slow and then picks up speed with the introduction of the ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend Aldous (Russell Brand). While I enjoyed the lead character Peter's (Jason Segel of 'How I Met Your Mother' fame) blundering and overall ridiculousness but it was the Aldous character that makes the movie. The deadpan one liners delivered to Peter's ex-girlfriend, Sarah (Kristen Bell from Veronica Mars) were so good and so subtle you almost missed them. Russell could have overplayed the Aldous character, making him an annoying figure in the movie, but instead you really appreciate his character's love of life.

The new female love interest for Peter is Rachael (Mila Kunis from That 70s Show) is well played but not that interesting. I didn't get the overdone cleavage as Rachael worked as the hotel receptionist. It was supposed to be a high-end resort and she looked like a hooker. I am also getting a bit tired of Judd Apatow producing films about average men (in both looks, intelligence and achievements) who manage to capture above average women (in mainly looks but usually also character). Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis are prancing around in skimpy outfits showing off a body that less than 1% of the female population can achieve and on the male side we get to see love handles, flab, bad skin and hairiness - the average male. Apatow seems to be recreating the reality of his own life through his films; he's married to Leslie Mann and has definitely batted above his weight.

Even though I am tiring of this trend in Apatow's films I still give this a 4/5 and worth full fare at the theater. As my brother-in-law said 'If I had had 10 or 15 minutes I would have just kept laughing at the one line'.