Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is hilarious. I knew it would be. After more than a year of hearing friends recommend this film to me, I finally got a chance to watch it last night, and it did not disappoint.

I think this is probably going to have to be a short post, because I'm not sure how much I can really say about this movie, other than that it's awesome. It works for many of the same reasons most of the Apatow-produced comic gems work (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, I Love You Man, etc.). It is hilarity mixed with emotion mixed with intelligence mixed with art.

Jason Segel wrote the screenplay (a fact of which I was not aware until tonight). He plays Peter, a dude who gets dumped by his girlfriend of five years, Sarah Marshall, who stars in a CSI-type television show called "Crime Scene" (the jokes aimed at these types of shows are some of the best in the movie). He goes on vacation to Hawaii and runs into Sarah, who is vacationing with her new boyfriend, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). At first I thought this was a bit of a far-fetched plot turn, but now I think maybe Peter really did follow Sarah to Hawaii. Just a thought.

Anyway, that's what happens; then some more stuff happens, stuff that will make you laugh and feel deeply for these characters.

I'm going to break down the awesomeness of this film into two categories, two main reasons why it's awesome:

1. The screenplay. Jason Segel wrote a hilarious, true-to-life script. The characters are phenomenal. There are no stock movie characters here, and there is no one who is completely at fault; everyone is a good guy, they are all just flawed enough to make mistakes that hurt one another. And the dialogue is perfectly hilarious.

2. The performances. Let me list some of the awesome people who are in this movie, all of whom are at the top of their respective comedic games: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Russell Brand, Mila Kunis, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Billy Baldwin, Bill Hader, Jack McBrayer, and Jason Bateman. How can this movie not rule?

I would tell you to make sure you see Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but I think I may have been the last person in the world to see it.