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Forgetting Sarah Marshall

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Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Theatrical poster
Directed byNicholas Stoller
Written byJason Segel
Produced byJudd Apatow
Shauna Robertson
Rodney Rothman
StarringJason Segel
Kristen Bell
Mila Kunis
Russell Brand
Bill Hader
Paul Rudd
Liz Cackowski
Jonah Hill
CinematographyRuss T. Alsobrook
Edited byWilliam Kerr
Music byLyle Workman
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
April 18, 2008
Running time
Theatrical Cut:
111 min.
Unrated Cut:
118 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30,000,000
Box office$101,474,500

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a 2008 American romantic comedy film from Universal Pictures directed by Nicholas Stoller and written by Jason Segel. The film was produced by Judd Apatow and stars Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis and Russell Brand. It was released theatrically on April 18, 2008 in the United States and Canada, and on April 23, 2008 in the United Kingdom. It is planned for a home video release on September 30, 2008 in the United States on DVD, 3-disc Unrated Collector's Edition DVD, Blu-ray Hi-Def disc and as a digital download.

Much of the film was filmed and takes place at the Turtle Bay Resort, located on the North Shore of the Island of Oahu in Hawaii.

Plot

Composer Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) has spent five years adoring his girlfriend, television star Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). He has had success for composing the theme song and score of her highly-rated CSI-type crime drama show Crime Scene. While writing a puppet Dracula musical called A Taste for Love, he's the guy left holding her purse in paparazzi photos and accidentally omitted from acceptance award speeches. Things take a twist when she breaks up with him right after he assumes she wants to come over for sex, and he suddenly finds himself alone. Trying to get over her, he has sex with various women, but besides being terrified of getting an STD, all this does is increase his stress and heartache. After an on-the-job nervous breakdown, he sees that not having Sarah may just ruin his life.

At the suggestion of his step-brother Bryan (Bill Hader), Peter takes an impulsive trip to Hawaii to clear his head, and is given a free room by the sympathetic receptionist Rachel (Mila Kunis), on condition that he clean up after himself. At Turtle Bay Resort, he is confronted by his worst nightmare: Sarah and her narcissistic new British-rocker boyfriend, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), are staying at his hotel. In a twist of irony, Snow tries and eventually manages to make friends with Peter, while Sarah initially and wrongly suspects he's stalking her. As he torments himself with the reality of Sarah's new life, he finds relief when talking with Rachel, whose laid-back approach tempts him to rejoin the world. Although they bond and get along well, she is also reluctant to move on, because she too has been recovering from a recent heartbreak. Peter becomes friends with many of the hotel staffers and, along with Snow, also offers advice to a devout newlywed named Darald (Jack McBrayer) who is having trouble with satisfying his new wife, Wyoma's (Maria Thayer) sexual appetite. Things take a turn for the worse when Peter is asked to vacate his room and given a room next door to Sarah and Aldous.

Throughout the film, Peter has flashbacks which reveal the negative aspects of his old relationship, which he mostly ignored or was completely oblivious to, while Sarah remembers many of the good things she hadn't appreciated before. It is made known that she cheated on him with Aldous for about a year without him knowing, but after they break up, she now realizes that she wants him back, even more so when her relationship with Aldous fizzles and he leaves her, giving Peter a warmer farewell than Sarah. Her desperation increases when her show is canceled and she fears her name being forgotten, while wishing to keep the ounce of dignity many actresses like her don't have. In the end, when Peter comes to comfort her for her loss, she begs him to take her back. Though he is initially reluctant, they have a brief physical encounter that Peter cuts short, realizing he cannot get an erection because he is not attracted to her anymore. Deciding that she is not worth it if she didn't love him before, he tells her off, calling her the Devil as he leaves. Peter then decides to stay true to Rachel and divulges what happened between him and Sarah moments before, but it backfires – an enraged Rachel tells him to never speak to her again. Before he leaves the hotel, Peter wordlessly hands Rachel a topless photo of herself; it had been put in a local bar's wall collage by her nasty ex-boyfriend and Peter endured a beating from the bar's tough-guy owner to get the photo back to Rachel. When Peter returns home he finally finishes writing his vampire rock opera over a course of personal reflection that allows him to fully recover from his breakup. On its opening night, Rachel shows up, having been convinced by all the staff members Peter befriended at the hotel, and in the end both reconcile their differences and move on to further their relationship.

A post-credits scene shows that Sarah later managed to get a job similar to her previous character on another crime drama called Animal Instincts.

Cast

Nudity

In accordance with Judd Apatow's 2007 announcement "I'm gonna get a penis in every movie I do from now on"[1] the film shows full-frontal nudity of Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) three times in the beginning and once at the end of the film (albeit for only a fraction of a second each time).

Release & reception

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $17.7 million in 2,798 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #2 at the box office behind The Forbidden Kingdom, and averaging $6,335 per theater.[2] It opened behind other Apatow productions such as Superbad, Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Talladega Nights[3], but ahead of his recent films Walk Hard[3] and Drillbit Taylor.[4]

As of July 9, 2008, Forgetting Sarah Marshall has grossed an estimated total of $100.3 million worldwide - $62.9 million in North America and $38.5 million in other territories.[5]

Forgetting Sarah Marshall has received positive reviews from numerous critics. As of April 23, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 85% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 132 reviews - with the consensus being that the film "finds just the right mix of romantic and raunchy comedy."[6] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 67 out of 100, based on 37 reviews.[7]

Matt Pais of the Chicago Tribune said it's "the kind of movie you could watch all day because, like a new flame, you can't get enough of its company and are just glad to see where it takes you."[8] Richard Roeper highly praised the film for its laugh-out-loud moments as well as its worthiness to be an instant classic and went as far as to say he would put it on his list of 50 favorite comedies. [9]

Other positive reviews come from Entertainment Weekly who gave the film a B+ and applauded "Jason Segel's riff on varieties of male bewilderment,"[10] and Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle', who wrote "Segel's breakthrough movie, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, deserves to ride the wave of the latest, hottest micro-trend in pictures: the romantic comedy for guys."[11]

DVD, Blu-ray Disc and Other Formats

The DVD and Blu-ray Disc will be released September 30, 2008 in a single-disc DVD edition, a three-disc collector's DVD edition, a two-disc Blu-ray Hi-Def edition, and the Ultimate Unrated Comedy Collection containing the collectors' editions of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Knocked Up on either DVD or Blu-ray Disc. The title will also be released on various electronic download services. It was released on DVD in Australia (region 4) on August 20, in a single and 2-Disc Unforgettable Edition.

Soundtrack

Untitled

The soundtrack of Forgetting Sarah Marshall was released on April 15, 2008

  1. "Love You Madly" by Cake
  2. "We've Got to Do Something" by Infant Sorrow
  3. "You Can't Break A Heart and Have It" by­ Frank Black
  4. "Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying" by­ Belle & Sebastian
  5. "More Than Words" by Aloha Sex Juice
  6. "Dracula's Lament" by Jason Segel
  7. "Inside of You" by Infant Sorrow
  8. "Fucking Boyfriend" by The Bird & The Bee
  9. "Intensified" by Desmond Dekker
  10. "Nothing Compares 2 U" by­ The Coconutz
  11. "Baby" by Os Mutantes
  12. "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" by The Coconutz
  13. "A Taste for Love" by The cast of A Taste For Love
  14. "Secret Sun" by Jesse Harris
  15. "Everybody Hurts" by­ The Coconutz
  16. "Animal instincts" by The Transcenders

Awards/nominations

Forgetting Sarah Marshall has been nominated for 5 awards for the 2008 Teen Choice Awards. The nominations are:

  • Movie, Breakout Female: Kristen Bell
  • Movie, Breakout Female: Mila Kunis
  • Movie, Breakout Male: Jason Segel
  • Movie, Romantic Comedy
  • Movie, Actress Comedy: Kristen Bell

Spin-off

A week after the release of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Universal Pictures announced a new film Get Him to the Greek, reteaming Jonah Hill and Russell Brand with writer/director Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow.[12] Variety initially announced the project would focus on "fresh-out-of-college insurance adjuster (Hill) who is hired to accompany an out-of-control rock star (Brand) from London to a gig at L.A.'s Greek Theater."[12] In July 2008, Brand mentioned that he would be reprising his Aldous Snow role from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in a new film from Apatow in which the character was back on drugs.[13] In an interview with CHUD.com, Apatow would later reveal that Get Him to the Greek was indeed a spin-off of Forgetting Sarah Marshall with Brand again playing a no-longer-sober Aldous Snow, but did not state whether or not Jonah Hill would be playing a different role. [14]Noel Gallagher has been solicited to appear in the film.

References

  1. ^ Judd Apatow Vows to Include Wangs in Every Film He Makes
  2. ^ "Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  3. ^ a b "Judd Apatow Movie Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  4. ^ "Drillbit Taylor (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  5. ^ "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". The Numbers. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  6. ^ "Forgetting Sarah Marshall Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  7. ^ "Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  8. ^ Forgetting Sarah Marshall | Metromix Chicago
  9. ^ Ebert & Roeper review of Forgetting Sarah Marshall
  10. ^ EW review: Remember 'Sarah Marshall' - CNN.com
  11. ^ Mick LaSalle (April 18, 2008). "Movie review: He can't forget 'Sarah Marshall'". San Francisco Chronicle. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ a b Siegel, Tatiana. "Apatow, Stoller speak 'Greek'". Variety. Retrieved 2008-07-31.
  13. ^ "Brand's Booky Wook not a Filmy Wilm". The Press Association. July 7 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Faraci, Devin (July 29 2008). "SPINNING OFF FROM SARAH MARSHALL". Cinematic Happenings Under Development. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |work= (help)

External links

Fictional websites created for the film
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