Marshall funny, falters

April 21, 2008 —

Judd Apatow and company succeed often because their films amalgamate various forms of humor with moments that echo the everyday-ness of our lives (albeit in a circumstances that are a bit absurd). Forgetting Sarah Marshall manages this same balance, although it may be just slightly less successful than some of its counterparts.

In Marshall, Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) is dating TV star Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), who dumps him. He soon decides to go to Hawaii to try and forget her, but ends up finding her there with her new, rock star boyfriend (Russell Brand). Peter continues to run into the couple, but the hotel concierge (Mila Kunis) tries to help him move on.

The strength and weakness of the film is the script. There are moments of hilarity in consistently interspersed throughout. The problem lies in the fact that there are lulls in the film trying to be funny, but failing.

Yet, the script is very strong when the characters are real, which has been a strength in other of Apatow's films. His films continually deliver laughs, but never stray too far away from realism. The same is all the more true with Marshall because none of the leads succumb to extreme unbelievability (with Brand being a slight exception). This, however, is contrasted by the extreme lack of realism in the supporting cast.

Segel works well as the lead. He has the charisma of a comedic lead, but he also remains just odd enough to be unique. What only played well here and there was the romance with Kunis' character. When they were interacting in an unromantic way, they were both believable, but when together, their connection waned.

I'm not really a big fan of Bell, but I found myself actually believing her performance here. Her character was given few non-realistic moments, and she maintained her struggle with having her ex and new boyfriend present. And Brand, although just a tad over-the-top at times, mixed a distinct absurd persona with a charmingly authentic one.

As I said earlier, it was the supporting cast that I had the most difficulty with. Made up of other Apatow regulars (Hader, Rudd and Hill) and a few new faces, the side characters made little sense sometimes next to the very real leads. Furthermore, most of them were left poorly drawn. Not that their characters needed to be fully developed, but a bit of understanding of their oddities and quirks would have been nice.

This underdevelopment seemed to translate beyond simply the characters to the script at points as well. Marshall tends to become a bit too predictable and then drops too many of its minor plotlines in favor of wrapping up Peter's story. I would have liked to have seen some of the other characters get a final moment or some form of conclusion.

Overall, I still enjoyed much of Marshall, and applaud Apatow for another successful comedy that works on multiple levels. Plus, I quite enjoyed the conclusion of Peter's story because it both appealed to my theatrical ventures and had a nice feeling of turning the story full-circle in a way.