Saturday, April 19, 2008

FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL

“FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL” (Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis & Russell Brand)

I was not impressed by the trailer to this, but critics started raving how funny it was and the preview didn’t do it justice – so I went... All I can gather is – the critics I read & heard are easily amused.
“In Bruges”, a ‘dark’ comedy, had 3 times the laughs of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”.
That’s not to say that “Forgetting S.M.” isn’t a pleasant little romantic flick, it is... well, once you recover from all the gratuitous shots of male genitalia being shoved in your face. I’m guessing Judd Apatow asked his regular gang of idiots, “Which of you has the longest schlong?” & that’s how Jason Segel won the part – it definitely wasn’t for his acting abilities.
The premise is in the title; Peter (Segel) writes the music score for girlfriend Sarah Marshall’s (Kristen Bell) TV series / she dumps him after he emerges from the shower, thus leading to the first of many full frontal shots of Peter’s peter. Again, I’ll reference a much funnier film – “Walk Hard:The Dewey Cox Story” featured full frontal male nudity that worked for comedic effect – Here, there is nothing funny about the scene whether Segel’s willy is shown or not; a quick naked buttocks shot would have sufficed – ‘Okay, we know she’s breaking up with him while he’s naked, tee-hee, let’s move on.’
To get over Sarah, Peter goes to Hawaii where he discovers Sarah with new boyfriend, ‘pop star’ Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) A series of ‘situations’ ensue with minor moments of ‘comedy’... So, yes, this is a ‘sitcom’ with FFMN (Full frontal male nudity)
Almost as though the writers said, “We know the dialogue isn’t funny, but if we keep showing the dumped guy’s wang, they’ll be rolling in the aisles.”
I even found the numerous scenes of Segel walking around shirtless to be disturbing because of his ‘puffy’ nipples... guys with puffy nipples should keep their shirts ON.

I was hoping Apatow regular Paul Rudd would provide some laughs in a minor role, but nope, didn’t happen. & Apatow regular ‘the chubby kid from “Superbad”', was just pathetic to watch (& not in a humorous way)
However, the reason I call this a ‘pleasant’ flick is Mila Kunis as Rachel, a hotel employee who at first takes pity on the heartbroken Peter and gradually falls for the crybaby whiner. Yet, at the same time she doesn’t fit her role because she’s much too striking (gorgeous eyes) – she makes Bell’s TV starlet look ‘below average’ by comparison. I don’t know what she’s done since ‘That 70’s Show’, but Mila is a major hottie with a very bright future in feature films.
Just for the record, my wife agreed – it wasn’t a very funny movie & ‘1 or 2’ penile shots would have sufficed. Her quote, “I guess he must be really proud of that thing.”
My final comment – I’m sure I’m not alone in saying movies with more male nudity than female are not what the public wants to see; & what’s even worse is when you have the opportunity to show attractive females having sex and then shoot the scenes so nothing that we want to see gets shown! So I’d recommend “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” to all my gay pals & to my hetero buddies – avert your eyes during the break up scene... You’ve been warned!

5 comments:

Terry Reid said...

Well, DUH!
I consider it my job to warn other males what they're going to see if they take their significant others to see this movie. TDR

Anonymous said...

you would not know a funny movie if it slammed you in the face

Anonymous said...

I trust this is the same Anonymous that liked "What Happens In Vegas"?
So we disagree on what's funny. When it comes to 'dumb' comedies, I'm a hard man to please - I did like "Walk Hard:The Dewey Cox Story" - that was 'dumb' but kept me in stitches. I do tend to lean toward 'darker' comedies - I loved "In Bruges". I also found plenty of humor in "Iron Man" & in last year's "Charlie Wilson's War",
I thought Philip Seymour Hoffman was incredibly funny... So Anonymous 1:21 PM, did any of those films slam you in the face?

Anonymous said...

I have a feeling this is a persom who knows you, otherwise they would just simply leave their name.

Anonymous said...

Hi Sam - Thank YOU for leaving your name! I'm pretty sure its someone who knows me - someone I used to work with at Sportsradio KJR. I don't care if they leave an alias, I just want to be able to separate one anonymous from another!