INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Four stars (R) 

Forgetting Sarah Marshall tickled the hell out of me. The latest from producer Judd Apatow and his team mixes crude humor with a sweet relationship story, just as they did in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. The result is as charming as it is funny.

Nick Stoller directed the film, but the key player here is leading man Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother), who wrote the screenplay. Segel’s script is softer than previous Apatow films, which is one of the reasons I like it so much. The world he presents is full of blunt sexuality and traumatic moments, but it is ultimately a benign place where people are kind more often than not.  

The story line — boy loses girl, boy goes on vacation to lick his wounds, girl turns up at vacation spot with new boyfriend — is the simplest of any Apatow film to date, and thanks for that. Where the writers of other Apatow-produced comedies were forced to spend too much time addressing multiple plot threads, Forgetting Sarah Marshall gets to focus on its characters.

Segel plays Peter Bretter, a musician who does the soundtrack of a CSI-style cop show starring his girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). When Sarah comes home unexpectedly and announces that she is leaving him, the towel drops off fresh-from-the-shower Peter and he stands there naked and stunned. The joke, of course, is the actor going full-frontal, but the scene — based on a real naked breakup in Segel’s life — succeeds as more than a gag because the poor guy is so emotionally exposed.

Most of the movie takes place at a vacation resort in Hawaii, as Peter keeps running into Sarah and her new British rock star boyfriend Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). Chipper front desk receptionist Rachel (Mila Kunis from That ’70s Show) tries to help the devastated man, as do several other hotel staffers. And it turns out that Sarah and Aldous aren’t villains, as the formulaic plot allows get-to-know-you time with them. Add in good supporting work from Jack McBrayer (30 Rock) as a panicky bridegroom and Bill Hader (SNL) as Peter’s fussy step-brother, a funny cameo from Paul Rudd and a not-so-funny one from Jonah Hill (Superbad) and you’ve got a dandy hotel-as-womb romantic comedy.

Problems? There are too many dick jokes in the first few minutes of the movie — yes, I know penises are funny, but the movie nearly reaches the overkill point. And the middle of the film sags in spots — nothing crucial — but the formlessness is notable at points.  

About the cast. Jason Segel gets big points for taking a character that could have been insufferable and keeping him likable and credible, and Mila Kunis gets a gold star for her utterly disarming performance, but the scene-stealer here is Russell Brand as rocker Aldous Snow. The controversial British comic, who is very smart, very juvenile and an expert at stream-of-consciousness comedy, hosts a weekly radio show on BBC 2. Go to www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/, click on the word “Listen” and you can hear his most recent show anytime.  

I saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall two weeks ago. Last week I saw it a second time. When you see as many movies as I do, you don’t often go back for seconds, but this one is worth it.