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MetaCritic Score: 67

I had some reservations about Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I love most of the recent Judd Apatow productions, but I was a little afraid that this movie, which stars Jason Segel instead of some of the bigger names like Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, or Paul Rudd, might make it seem like Apatow was running with his JV-team. Fortunately, the results surpassed my expectations and that was not the case.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall focuses on Peter, a slovenly but reasonably successful composer who is living every guy’s dream, dating Sarah Marshall, the beautiful star of the TV show he writes music for. They’ve been together for five years when we meet Peter at the start of the film. That all changes abruptly when Sarah shows up and tells Peter that she’s leaving him and that there is somebody else. Peter is thrown into a full blown emotional and psychological tailspin and tries to fill the gaping hole that she has left with random one night stands and booze.

After it becomes apparent that this isn’t helping anything, he decides that the best thing to do is to take a vacation to get away from the situation for a while. So, he books his flight and heads to a place in Hawaii that he remembers Sarah always raving about. Trouble arises immediately when he tries to check in to the hotel (he decided not to make a reservation in advance) and discovers that the only room available is $6,000 per night. As if that isn’t enough, in walks Sarah with the “other man,” Aldous Snow, the exceedingly famous British ladies’ man and lead singer of the band Infant Sorrow.

Luckily for Peter, Rachel, the cute girl behind the counter, quickly recognizes the situation and, rather than letting Peter face the embarrassment of having to leave the hotel without a room, offers Peter the $6,000 suite free of charge, until somebody else books it. What follows is a logically awkward set of interactions between Peter, Sarah Marshall, and Aldous, for the length of the trip as Peter tries to get over Sarah, enjoy his trip, and explore the new opportunities that are presented to him.

The first thing that sticks out to me about this movie is that I don’t think there is much, if any, difference in skill between Seth Rogen and Jason Segel. Despite my initial apprehensions, I don’t think that this movie would have been significantly better or worse if they had replaced Segel with the bigger name. Like Rogen, Segel gives off the lovable loser vibe that audiences can’t help but root for. I felt like the writers did a great job of making Peter a very human character that many people will be able to relate to, a hallmark of Rogen’s roles in Knocked Up and Pineapple Express.

Some of the best aspects of all the recent Apatow movies are the brilliant supporting characters. Forgetting Sarah Marshall is filled with more of the great small roles we’ve come to expect. The most notable of these are Jonah Hill as the resort’s overbearing waiter, Paul Rudd as Peter’s burnt out surfing instructor, and Jack McBrayer (who you may recognize as Kenneth the page from NBC’s 30 Rock) as Darald, a Mormon newlywed who is struggling with the, ahem, “mechanics” of consummating his marriage.

Russel Brand is also tremendous as Aldous and, interestingly, will reportedly be reprising this role for Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller’s next picture, Get Him to the Greek. Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis are both serviceable in their roles as Sarah Marshall and Rachel, but let us not kid ourselves, they’re mainly cast to serve as eye candy, not win Oscars.

As for weaknesses, I thought the film really did a good job of getting better as it went along. The beginning features an excess of unncessary male nudity, dick jokes, and generally sophomoric humor. That isn’t to say that the rest of the movie is going to remind you of an episode of Frasier, but it at least achieved the level of maturity of Knocked Up.

Overall, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a solid addition to Judd Apatow’s recent litany of successes. It offers us believeable characters, well-timed humor, and is really just a pleasure to watch. It’s mainly aimed at the 18-29 demographic, so I wouldn’t recommend watching it with your mom, but, if you missed it in theaters, it is definitely worth checking out.

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