Forgetting Sarah Marshall Thread, Take 2

I'm not sure why we can't have a thread about this without people resorting to personal attacks that have nothing to do with this film, but let's try this again. Please keep the bullshit to yourself.

Here is Alan Sepinwall's spoiler-filled review, which I think touches on many of the film's strengths, and a few of its weaknesses.

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2008/04/at-movies-forgetting-sarah-marshall.html

 

I'm sorry, but you've failed as a parent if you're taking kids that young to an R-rated movie.

I wish movie theaters would quit letting parents bring kids that young to adult movies.

 

I enjoyed FSM, and I saw it based or Roeper's rave. Roeper oversold the movie by a mile, but it was still funny. The could have lost Jonah Hill and Paul Rudd and it wouldn't have hurt the movie any.
Apatow movies tend to have a different rhythm than most comedies made by Hollywood, the beats are different, not everything is set up for a laugh, and oftentimes it isn't really clear where the movie is going.
Also saw Walk Hard this week, and though some of the bits had differing comedic tones, I thought it was better than FSM. Loved Fischer and Wiig and the cameos.
My main diss about Apatow is that if he cut down his movies to the most effective stuff, they would play better.

 

I have to say I enjoyed the movie. Saw it because I'm a huge Apatow fan and it definitely delivered the laughs, along with a warm and relatable story.

 

Forgetting Sarah Marshall .... see it

Went and saw it with a couple friends last night on a whim and absolutely fucking loved it. I was expecting a 'Superbad,' 'Knocked Up' kind of comedy (i.e. raunchy) and instead got the best romantic comedy since ... well, maybe ever. I'm serious.

It had some raunchy moments, but not like some other Apatow movies and it was really well written.

Mila Kunis is apparently a really good actress (I was expecting a "Jackie" type character and got a surprisingly sweet girl instead), Kristen Bell was gorgeous, the guy who played Sarah Marshall's boyfriend was hilarious, there's some funny stuff from Paul Rudd and Jonah whatever his name is from Superbad.

Excellent, excellent movie. And that's from a guy who rarely enjoys romantic comedies.

 

Re: Forgetting Sarah Marshall .... see it

Not the best romantic comedy ever. (Settle down there, Pern). That's a genre that includes "Tootsie," "Some Like It Hot," "Annie Hall", "It Happened One Night" and, if we really want to stretch the definition, "There's Something About Mary."

But this is a heck of a flick. And it might be as good a "guy" romantic comedy as anything since Mary, which probably puts it in the top 5 all time in that department.

 

Re: Forgetting Sarah Marshall .... see it

I liked this better than Tootsie and Annie Hall. Haven't seen Some Like it Hot. We discussed 'There's Something About Mary,' but ultimately decided it was in a different category.

I would have rated "When Harry Met Sally" the best romantic comedy ever before this one. Only time will tell, but I thought this was a classic.

 

I'll give you Hill's part, but I thought Rudd was hilarious.

"When life gives you lemons, it's like ... Fuck the lemons, man!"

I liked that the British rocker guy was a douche, but he wasn't a total douche. Like, it liked Peter's music, he taught Kenneth from 30 Rock how to make love to his wife, he didn't mind waiting for a table at the restaurant, and he even wore the hideous shirt Sarah picked out for him. I don't know why, but it played better to have him be somewhat likable.

 

Totally agree. My friends and I all said the same thing that there was no "villain" in the movie. Kristen Bell and the rocker guy were both likable characters, but it was so well written that you still wanted Peter to end up with Rachel. There was no one to hate in this movie and it still worked brilliantly. You don't see that in many romantic comedies.

 

Russell Brand stole many of the scenes he was in.

 

I saw this movie earlier this week. It was pretty good, but I agree that Roeper oversold it. I liked the movie, but frankly I thought Superbad was a lot better. This movie was cute, and it had its moments -- the characters were all well-developed and interesting -- but I didn't fall over laughing like I did at "McLovin."

 

I saw FSM on Friday night, then Walk Hard on Saturday afternoon. I totally agree that Walk Hard was the better of the two movies. There were a lot of good parts in FSM -- I think Paul Rudd steals any scene he's in — but overall it didn't do as much for me as Virgin or Knocked Up. And for some weird reason, I wanted him to get back with Kristen Bell in the end.

Walk Hard, though, was hysterical and I can't believe it didn't get better reviews. The whole Bob Dylan/Beatles/Brian Wilson sequence was absolute genius. I'll watch it again before sending it back to Netflix.