MOVIE REVIEW - Forgetting Sarah Marshall

If there has even been a movie made that will be divided along gender lines, it's Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It's the new comedy from the ensemble that gave us Knocked Up and Superbad. But I want to caution you this is NOT a romantic comedy, nor is it a chick-flick. I say that because I've heard it referred to as both and it is neither.

FSM is the story of our lead character Peter, a young musician who won't grow up, who is dating Sarah Marshall a huge fictional TV star, who stars in a fictional show that resembles CSI. Sarah dumps Peter and he struggles mightily to come to grips with the fact that he is no longer Sarah's. He embarks on a trip to Hawaii to get his head together at a fashionable resort, but finds that Sarah is there with her new boyfriend that she's been cheating with for about a year. And it's on!

First of all, FSM is entirely too looooooooooooooooong. Comedies like this are not usually a full two hours but that's what you get here. Second, FSM pushes the envelope of good taste from first frame till the last. It was an interesting visit to the theater for me. There were some people laughing hysterically, and there were others that got up and left 15 minutes in and never returned.

FSM is all about what you think is funny. This will be a hit-and-miss flick. If you're not easily offended and don't mind a ton of bathroom humor, then FSM will be okay for you. And obviously the opposite is also true. To put our cards on the table, there is full frontal male nudity and that may not be your cup of tea. Thus the R rating.

There are funny moments too in FSM. The string of coincidences and ironies does make for some laughs. FSM's strength to me was the secondary characters that were generally amusing, although there were too many of them. This flick could have used a diet, and another editing. if it had a couple fewer characters, and was edited down another 20 minutes you would have had a better movie.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is going to be a big box office hit based on the filmmakers reputation. Again, the company you keep is the whole deal here. FSM is strongly targeting young adults 18-24 years old as it's core audience. FSM hits at times, but mostly it missed. There are moments of originality, but mostly taking the easy route with cheap sophomoric laughs.