Last fall saw the release of a movie that brought romantic comedy face to face with raunchy comedy as it told the story of a man seeking to find himself after getting trapped in a marriage that he did not expect. It saw the central character jet off to a tropical locale where he almost immediately found the person he was meant to be with; the only problem was that he was with his wife.

That movie was The Heartbreak Kid starring Ben Stiller. You are probably wondering what that has to do with Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Well, the two films share some similarities in that they both feature men who are unlucky in love, both end up in a vacation paradise, and both have to contend with a current and a past love. On the surface, they are quite similar when comparing broad strokes, however, that is where the similarities end.

When you cut into them, you will find two movies that could not be more different. When I first saw the Stiller film, I sort of liked it. I enjoyed the combination of romance and raunch, but now that I am a bit further removed from it, it is easy to see why it was not a particularly good film. It is populated with unlikable characters that I have no real sympathy for. They got themselves into a mess without even thinking of the potential consequences, and the deeper they go, the less they care about doing what is right. On the other hand, Forgetting Sarah Marshall takes a simpler approach and builds characters to care about, comedy that springs organically from the situations, and has a much kinder, gentler soul than its cruel counterpart.

Peter Bretter (Jason Segel of How I Met Your Mother) is a nice guy. He works as composer for a popular primetime procedural called Crime Scene (a CSI knock-off). He also happens to be dating the shows attractive star, the titular Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell of Veronica Mars). Unfortunately, things are not going well for Peter as Sarah arrives at his apartment and promptly breaks up with him. This leads to a much talked about full frontal nude scene for one brave Jason Segel. It is a scene that works beautifully within the context; yes, it does induce a twitter in the audience, but it reveals a hurt Peter at his most vulnerable.