Forgetting Sarah Marshall Review by Shale April 19, 2008 Today was a good-weather day in Miami Beach, bright cloudless sky that made me have to make it to the nude beach. Stayed there a couple hours then caught the matinee at the Intracoastal Theater. Hangin' out at the beach with a large group of naked people, very few of them particularly model types seemed quite in line with this movie, for in the first five-minutes or so, our protagonist Peter (Jason Segel) is standing on screen flashing full frontal of his pasty, slightly pudgy bod. Seems Peter is coming out of the shower when his girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) star of a TV CSI type show dumps him. In this scene he refuses to get dressed because he knows as soon as he is dressed she will leave. So the breakup continues with a naked Peter. You hardly notice actually, just feel sorry for the guy in his most vulnerable moment. The rest of this romantic comedy, also written by Jason Segel, has our dumped guy trying to forget his TV star girlfriend, which is hard to do with ads and promos for the show. Oh yeah, Peter dubs the soundtrack for the show, so he has to watch her on screen. After picking up several women, only for sex, he finally is convinced to get away - to Hawaii. OK, you guessed it Sarah shows up at the same hotel with her new squeeze, Brit rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). Sarah Marshall and Aldous Snow Peter is befriended and helped by the hotel receptionist Rachel (Mila Kunis - too gorgeous not to be a main character). They start hangin' out and eventually get close. Rachel and Peter at a Luau There are many takes and mistakes on what will happen between Peter and Rachel, Peter and Sarah, Sarah and Aldous. Two Couples Tensely Thrown Together at Dinner It is funny but also poignant as Peter finally starts to get his act together and explores his relationship (in some flashbacks) with Sarah, gains new friends in Hawaii and pursues his idea of a dark musical about a lovelorn Dracula played by Muppets. I will give this a 1 or 2 DVD rating, an enjoyable romantic comedy that deviates a little from the formula and also shows male nudity in an R-rated movie, a rarity that may become more common. With that, a few words about nudity in movies. At one time I wrote Nude Movie Reviews for nudist publications ("I really am writing this naked") and often mentioned the acceptance of non-sexual, incidental nudity found in mainstream films with PG-13 or R ratings. Invariably, breasts and other female nudity are quite common but male genitals are rarely shown. Kevin Bacon in Wild Things, Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights (Prosthesis but still shown), Harvey Keitel in The Piano and The Bad Lieutenant and Geoffrey Rush in Quills are some notable flix of the past decade or so. To show the extent of the taboo, Showgirls, which was rated NC-17 and could have shown not only male nudity but sexual as well did not, even though there were numerous scenes of naked women and one scene with a naked man from behind that looked contrived in order not to show his front. Maybe with more comedies like this one where incidental nudity of average guys is shown in context we will someday get a healthier attitude of body acceptance. Shale's movie rating scale: 0 DVD No I would not waste my money or time seeing this movie again. 1 DVD I would get this DVD for $5 or $7 2 DVD I would get this DVD for $10 3 DVD I would get this DVD for $15 4 DVD I would get this DVD for $25 as soon as it was released.
I, too, was pleasantly surprised at the male nudity. i think the taboo is ridiculous. In all, it was a charming little film and I'd definately recommend it to anyone who liked any of the other Apatow produced films.
I heard this movie is so funny. I really wanted to go see it, but then I got sick when all my friends went. I heard is got really good reviews!
it did have some funny parts, but well it was a little better than ok the ending started to unravel abit there
Finally saw it and loved every moment of it! It was so funny and I loved the cast! Jason Segal was awesome and now I love Mila Kunis. I was laughing the entire time!
I thought it was hilarious, a lot better than Knocked Up, but maybe it's because Katherine Heigl wasn't in it. But overall, I thought it was a funny "guy"/chick film.
