Same old lovelorn story in ‘Sarah Marshall’

By Allison Brophy Champion

Published: April 25, 2008

Produced by the same guy who did last year’s divinely inspired comedies, “Superbad” and “Knocked Up,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” just isn’t as good.

Sorry.

Didn’t I see this movie already last year and it wasn’t it called, “The Heartbreak Kid,” starring Ben Stiller? Seems like it.

“Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” like “Heartbreak” takes place in Hawaii and both are about guys unlucky in love. Both star blonde girls and both feature offbeat and off color humor.

Did someone say crude? Crude humor is okay along as it’s clever: “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” not so much. Maybe if I was 20 I would have liked it.

I know, I know, people, including myself, are desperate for a good flick on the big screen — the last one I saw that give me a thrill was back in February and featured a 3-D Bono. Meow.
Written by and starring Jason Segel, who’s not quite a fox, “Forgetting,” apparently, is based on a real break-up he went through while in the nude.

Yikes!

The movie is rated R and you’ll see why right away — full frontal prolonged male nudity (that’s a change).
I feel violated.

Segel plays the nudist Peter, a California composer who writes “songs” for a trashy TV drama, “Crime Scene,” which stars his longtime girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell).

Although he seemingly has a good job, Peter’s sort of a loser who sits around in his sweats all day eating really big bowls of Fruit Loops. Until one day in the late afternoon, Sarah stops by and dumps him.
Peter has just gotten out of the shower and he drops his towel he’s so shocked.

“I’m not going to put my clothes on,” he tells her, explaining why. “I know what that means: if I go put clothes on, it’s over.”

That’s pretty damn funny.

But no, their five-and-a-half-year relationship is over because, yes, “There’s someone else,” says Sarah. That someone else is British rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), a pretty hilarous character on account of all his pelvis thrusting.

Peter’s brother Brian (Bill Hader from SNL) encourages Peter to get over it, though not in the rebound sort of way, “You don’t need to put your ‘p’ in a ‘v’ right now,” and that’s probably good advice.

Still, Peter proceeds to look for love in many weird places, hopping in bed with many weird ladies — “You can gas me,” says one. After a trip to his pediatrician, where he’s assured that he does not have an STD, Peter decides to head for Hawaii.

Sarah always talked about the lovely Turtle Bay Resort, and it’s where he’s headed. But guess what? So is Sarah and her new boyfriend.

Sigh. See where this is going?

Moping around in paradise and trying to avoid his super-perky ex, Peter meets and falls for the front desk clerk Rachel, played by the always-lovable Mila Kunis — a.k.a. Jackie from Fox’s “That 70s Show.”

Jonah Hill, the actor who played Seth in “Superbad” and Jonah in “Knocked Up,” is also working at the Hawaiian resort as a waiter and wouldn’t you know it? He sells weed. Hill’s performance though, unlike in “Superbad,” is forgettable.

Jack McBrayer from NBC’s “30 Rock” rounds out the cast of “Forgetting” as a struggling ultra-conservative honeymooner who’s not so comfortable having sex with his red-headed wife, who’s apparently a firecracker in the bedroom.

But he adores Sarah Marshall.

“I love her show,” says McBrayer’s character. “When they mix sexuality and violence, I love it!”

Things continue on like they do in paradise — slow and half-drunk — and I’m mostly bored even when Peter breaks out his “rock-opera” about Dracula.

Huh? Sarah’s new boyfriend likes it.

“You’re like a Goth Neil Diamond,” Aldous Snow says, and that’s exactly the look/sound Peter was shooting for.

“Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” sadly, is easy to forget. The jokes seem laborious and everyone looks too damn perfect.

Will Peter find love? Don’t care. Don’t know. Left the movie early. Wouldn’t recommend it even on DVD.

Now if I could just get that image out of my mind…

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or