Reviews

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

A limp comedic effort

By TOM MEEK | April 16, 2008

2.0 Stars

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Judd Apatow gave the dick joke a shot of Viagra in Knocked Up and Superbad. Here, as producer, he takes it one stroke farther as writer/star Jason Segel (he was one of the screw-offs in Knocked Up) keeps flogging his log for the camera — and I’m not sure why. The comic effect goes limp fast and has little to do with the effort of Segel’s Pete to win back the girlfriend of the title (Kristen Bell). She’s the renowned star of a CSI-like crime show and he’s the lowly composer. Over-rigged coincidences deliver the estranged couple separately to the same Hawaiian resort where Apatow regular Jonah Hill toils as a crass maître d’ and Paul Rudd poses as a stoned surfer dude. The film does show some heart when Pete falls for the sassy front-desk receptionist (Mila Kunis) and Russell Brand delivers a droll parody of a sober, free-loving pop star, but at nearly two hours, director Nicholas Stoller just can’t keep it up. 112 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway +Harvard Square + Circle + Arlington Capitol + suburbs

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