FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL
RYAN: “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is the latest offering from our favorite comic producer, Judd Apatow. And sadly, this time… not so much.
CAROLINE: Here’s the deal – it’s really funny. I laughed out loud a lot. I enjoyed seeing the bevy of Judd Apatow actors that we’ve gotten used to seeing in all his films. But is it a good movie? No.
RYAN: Let’s break it down. It’s got Kristen Bell in a small-ish role, and I don’t think she can act very well. There’s one scene where she’s supposed to be having a breakdown and seriously – she needs to get an acting coach.
CAROLINE: She’s pretty, albeit in a bland way. I thought she was decent, but the guy who plays her boyfriend-of-the-moment is hi-larious.
RYAN: He was brilliant! If you close your eyes and listen to him, he sounds just like Sacha Baron Cohen in real life.
CAROLINE: And he’s oddly sexy even though he’s so not my type. He had some of the funniest lines in the movie, and you have to wonder how many were written and how many were ad libbed. It seems like the kind of movie where a lot of riffing and ad libbing was going on.
RYAN: I was surprised at how much full frontal male nudity there is in this movie! More than any other I’ve seen. I can’t believe it didn’t get an NC-17 rating.
CAROLINE: Yeah, but it was always in a flaccid state, and each shot was less than a second long. And it was done for a humorous effect so that’s probably why they got away with it.
RYAN: The star, Jason Segel, is actually pretty cute. He doesn’t have a great body, but he’s got beautiful eyes and he seems like a funny, sincere guy. And there’s a girl who’s a stunt double for Vanessa Hudgens from “High School Musical.” She’s gorge, and she can act circles around Kristen Bell. I’d like to see more of her.
CAROLINE: She was on “That 70s Show,” which I never watched. I was really into her too. I looked forward to every scene she was in.
RYAN: Jonah Hill was great too, as always. He plays an obsessive fan of Kristen’s BF, and he’s hilarious.
CAROLINE: But let’s be real; this is not a great movie. And I’m trying to figure out why because like I said, it’s laugh-out-loud funny.
RYAN: Our friend Kate, who attended with us, said there was an emotional disconnect.
CAROLINE: The whole movie felt kind of disjointed. It’s like Jason Segel, who also wrote the screenplay and who’s obviously very funny, had the germ of an idea for a script but tried to stretch it into a 2-hour feature and it just didn’t work. Clearly, he’s trying to follow on the heels of Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen to movie stardom. Seth had “Knocked Up,” Jonah had “Superbad” and now it’s this guy’s turn.
RYAN: He reminded me of Will Ferrell a few times, and I was like, “Oh no. Settle down.” That’s not a path he needs to follow.
CAROLINE: Another problem is that it’s just way too long. I don’t think they had enough content to fill a whole movie.
RYAN: They could have easily cut out 20 minutes.
CAROLINE: Which is true of all Judd Apatow films.
RYAN: They really needed to tighten and clean it up. The story’s not that great. We’ve all been through bad breakups but I didn’t really feel the pain in this one. I wish they’d played up more how hard it is to break up with someone who’s a celebrity because then you have to see them on TV all the time.
CAROLINE: I felt myself growing disappointed as the movie went on. I had a decent time watching it, but I expected it to be better since it’s coming from Judd Apatow. If this movie didn’t have his name attached, it would be a tiny indie that no one would see.
RYAN: OMG it would tank! Bottom line?
CAROLINE: It’s a funny movie that you’ll enjoy; just don’t go in expecting much. I love Paul Rudd, and he’s great in the few scenes he has. It’s just not a well-made movie.
RYAN: It was fair. I don’t regret seeing it, but it’s not a must-see on the big screen. And it’s not nearly as good as the movies that Judd Apatow has directed, like “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.”