Opens at Metro and other theaters, Fri., April 18. Rated R. 110 minutes.
Jason Segel puts it all out there—and, like, it's all out there in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It takes all of five minutes for Segel, who wrote and stars in the movie, to drop towel: His character, Peter Bretter, is on the verge of being dumped by his longtime girlfriend, middlebrow-TV actress Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), but she won't actually break up with him until he puts on some clothes, and so...he doesn't. The way Peter figures it, the moment he puts on some clothes, "it's over." The scene elicits big dumb laughs—That dude's naked, haw haw. But there's also some sad, sweet truth to it that carries over throughout the movie. Peter fits neatly into producer Judd Apatow's now-familiar catalog of screwed-up, stunted crybaby man-boys, but he's also Bruce Jay Friedman's Lonely Guy—nothing more, or less, than a misfit and a mess. Several members of Apatow's troupe of regular irregulars also show up: Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, and Jack McBrayer—but without Segel bravely channeling "his own anxieties and obsessions into his clowning," as Pauline Kael wrote about Woody Allen 24 years ago, Forgetting Sarah Marshall would have been easily forgettable and, one might even say, limp.
French Noir at SAM
Claude Chabrol's 2004 adaptation of the Ruth Rendell novel The Bridesmaid i... More>> Seattle Art Museum, Every week Thursday from Thu., May 1 until Thu., June 5, 7:30pm, $7 (individual), $58-$65 (series)
Looking for America
She’s been on 11 blind dates in the last two months; not one of the me... More>> Lisa Harris Gallery, Daily from Mon., May 19 until Sat., May 31, 10:30am-5:30pm
I Am My Own Wife
The Pulitzer- and Tony-winning I Am My Own Wife had a long and complicated ... More>> ArtsWest, Every week Sunday from Sun., May 25 until Sun., June 1, 3:00pmEvery week Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday from Wed., May 14 until Sun., June 1, 7:30pm, $10-$29
Looking for America
She’s been on 11 blind dates in the last two months; not one of the me... More>> Lisa Harris Gallery, Daily from Mon., May 19 until Sat., May 31, 10:30am-5:30pm
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
Reader Comments