The Judd Apatow comedy train left the station with the absolutely hilarious The 40-Year-Old Virgin, stopping at the good but not great Knocked Up, the disappointing Superbad, and the throwaway Drillbit Taylor. The next stop is Forgetting Sarah Marshall, an improvement on the last three efforts but not quite reaching the same level as the initial one.
After being dumped by his TV star girlfriend, a devastated Peter decides to take a break in Hawaii to get over her. Little does he know that his ex is staying in the exact same hotel along with her new boyfriend.
It’s probably down to the fact that we’ve seen so many Apatow comedies now that it’s just not as funny as it used to be. The 40-Year-Old Virgin was, and still is, one of the funniest films of the 21st century so far. It just exploded onto the big screen out of nowhere, taking everyone by surprise and it was a big hit. It seems like I’m the only one who wasn’t blown away by his next two efforts after that, Knocked Up and Superbad. Especially with the latter, I still can’t think today why the hell that was received as well as it was, both by critics and fans alike. Forgetting Sarah Marshall is at least an improvement in my comedy books. It’s got some great comedic dialogue, most of which come from an extended cameo appearance which I will get to later, but it's also really smart at the same time. That’s something Apatow has managed to keep all the way through his films, even when he’s only producing them, that combination of funny and smart.
The general premise of the film seems like it should be boring and clichéd. We’ve seen it quite a few times in a lot of different movies but the team behind this makes it funny, clever and all round enjoyable enough to make it feel fresh and new. The script, written by star Jason Segel and directed by Nicholas Stoller, is not as hilarious as I’d hoped but when it’s on, believe me, it’s on. Segel times some of the dialogue so well that I literally burst out laughing inadvertently, even when it was something as ridiculous as, for example, Segel flashing full frontal male nudity. I was actually surprised those instances were allowed to be kept in, but we’re all glad they were as it makes for some of the most shockingly funny few seconds I’ve seen in the last year or so.
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