Much—maybe too much—has been written about
producer, writer, and director Judd Apatow, who, in a few short years,
has gone from being an underappreciated TV producer to Hollywood’s
go-to comedy guy. Once, not so long ago, Freaks and Geeks and
Undeclared were both canceled thanks to low ratings, while
Apatow’s meager spate of film projects—like 1996’s The Cable
Guy—was underwhelming at best. But then: Anchorman: The
Legend of Ron Burgundy, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and
Knocked Up and Superbad and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox
Story—all were Apatow productions, catapulting the guy to
success. (There’ve been missteps, sure, but the worst you can say about
stuff like Kicking & Screaming and Drillbit Taylor is
that they’re instantly forgettable.)
The latest Apatow-approved project—this time around, he’s
producing—is Forgetting Sarah Marshall, featuring his old
Freaks and Geeks star, Jason Segel. (He was the kid who played
drums and was in love with Lindsay!) As written and acted by Segel,
Forgetting Sarah Marshall feels like it’s been in the works for
a while—a long-gestating project that’s finally seeing the light
of day thanks to Apatow’s name. That could be a bad thing, but it
isn’t—even if the magical A-word were to be removed from Sarah
Marshall‘s advertising material, the movie would still be pretty
great.
Peter Bretter (Segel) has it made: He has an easy, well-paying job
(he lazily composes ambient music for the hit TV show Crime Scene
Investigation: Scene of the Crime) and for five and a half years,
he’s been happily dating Sarah (Veronica Mars‘ Kristen Bell),
the super-hot, super-cute star of Crime Scene Investigation. But
as soon as Sarah’s career starts to take off, she ditches
Peter—leaving the dude a sobbing, bewildered wreck. Doing his
best to break out of his funk, Peter books a flight to Hawaii and gets
ready to relax… only to discover that Sarah’s at the same resort,
along with her incredibly douchebaggy boyfriend (Russell Brand). Even
when one of the locals, Rachel (Mila Kunis, rehabbing nicely from
That ’70s Show), starts making eyes at Peter, he’s too miserable
to notice—until the dude wakes up and starts doing what the title
of the movie has been telling him to do all along.
There are a couple of too-easy plot threads throughout Sarah
Marshall (I bet you’ll never guess what Peter ends up doing with
Jackie from That ’70s Show!), but they never get in the way of
the constant, clever, and sharp comedy. Even if Sarah Marshall leans too heavily on what’s rapidly becoming an Apatow formula
(loveable-but-goofy everyman hooks up, then grows up), there’s still
enough charm in the process for it to work. The loveable, understated
Segel’s funny throughout, but it’s the supporting players who really
keep this thing going: From Bell to Kunis to Brand, the cast here is
fantastic, with even the smallest roles filled by the likes of
Knocked Up‘s Paul Rudd, Superbad‘s Jonah Hill, and 30
Rock’s Jack McBrayer. Between its killer one-liners (“When life
gives you lemons, just say, ‘Fuck the lemons!’ and bail!”) and likeable
characters, Forgetting Sarah Marshall‘s a worthy addition to the
Apatow canon. Yeah, sooner or later, we might get to a point where the
Apatow schtick gets old. Luckily, we’re not there yet.
