Forgetting Sarah Marshall

[Joe Don Faker]

Had a decent time at FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL.  Some laughs and eye candy.

And our hero's kitchen sports a framed lobby card from TORMENTED.  It's out of focus, but I'd know that disembodied head anywhere.  Check for it when Bill Hader and Jason Segel are talking about his cereal container.

Oh, and Tom Stewart killed me.

[MontyServo]

Didn't really care for it.  Had a few laughs, but not enough to recommend it.

[Joe Don Faker]

Yeah, it was okay for me.   But in the recent movie climate -- where a remake of PROM NIGHT can reach number one -- just being watchable and mildly entertaining puts it head and bare shoulders above most other offerings.  It's got some sweetness to it, too.

Plus, that Mila Kunis is beautiful.  I'll tell you that for free.

I enjoyed Billy Baldwin's cheesey CSI-Miami style line readings: 

Sarah Marshall: [lifts up the sheet] What do you think, Rush?
Detective Hunter Rush: It's going to be hard for her to reenter the pageant... without a face.

[GLaDOS]

Jude Apatow is totally overrated. He takes a turd, spit shines it, polishes it and calls it a movie. I don't care what anybody else says.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

I still have a degree of ambivalence towards this movie. I would consider it's quality "mixed".

On one hand, amusing and lovable characters were in no short supply. The film had its share of good laughs, and the protagonist was more sympathetic than the amoral, self-serving bastards that are the usual comedic stock and trade. Even if my life and actions weren't similar to those of the protagonist, I could connect emotional at a lot of moments, and during his explanation of why he's not up for a three-way I felt compelled to thrust my arm upwards in affirmation, and during the "I suck, go to a psychiatrist, I don't want to go to a psychiatrist" monologue I got a strong "been there, done that, bought the t-shirt" vibe.

On the other hand, I think the film lacked focus. The core plot was moderately predictable, even if some of the embellishments were not. Attempts at humor often fell flat. Rather than just being unfunny, some just created an almost painful feeling of vicarious awkwardness, a few were merely tasteless, and some were just downright surreal. I thought the series of short flashback scenes were an effective means of showing how each partner realizes the better intangeable and relationship qualities of whoever they wind up being really interested in. At least it was better than some dialogue vaguely implying that one person has a "good personality" and the other does not, or making the ex-girlfriend just blatantly one-dimensional and pure evil.
The moment the film started, I felt an inward groan and began putting up mental barriers as I got a glimpse of the protagonist. Is there some unwritten law that demands romantic comedy protagonists must always be doughy-faced, unmotivated slovenly loser-types? As the drama continued to unfold, I slowly began to open up to the character, which of course only meant he broke my heart with the inevitable betrayal. A doughy-faced romantic heroes must of course have two >>conventionally attractive<< women going after him, and he will, given the opportunity, commit an act of infidelity against the "officially sanctioned 'nice' girl/girl you know he'll wind up with at the end" by engaging in some sexual activity with the "ex girlfriend/bad news girl", and somehow, the nice girl/predestined lover winds up forgiving him for his irrational act of betrayal and welcomes him back with open arms. Granted, they managed to make it a bit more believable, giving the time apart, the advice from other characters, etc., but it would have been preferable if he either didn't get a blowjob from the ex, or if he didn't wind up back together with the "good" girl. I still can't see his character's motivation for that. He knows he's going with somebody who makes him a lot happier, he knows that he doesn't want to be back with her, and he knows he's not feeling the same attraction. It's just like, oh great, I actually was foolish enough to sympathize with you, main character. I thought you weren't like those other obnoxious romantic comedy male lead doughy guys, and you had to go and do a repulsive thing like this. ;-;

Bleeaaah.

BTW, I must assume the "eye candy" the original poster was referring to is the various shots of the character's bouncy meat-and-two-veg.

[bettertomorrowamy]

Jude Apatow is totally overrated. He takes a turd, spit shines it, polishes it and calls it a movie. I don't care what anybody else says.

Machines aren't necessary.  I don't care what anybody says.

[GLaDOS]

Jude Apatow is totally overrated. He takes a turd, spit shines it, polishes it and calls it a movie. I don't care what anybody else says.

Machines aren't necessary.  I don't care what anybody says.

I quite agree, mankind does not need machines at all.

[anais.jude]

Jude Apatow is totally overrated. He takes a turd, spit shines it, polishes it and calls it a movie. I don't care what anybody else says.

Machines aren't necessary.  I don't care what anybody says.

Wrong thread people!

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Jude Apatow is totally overrated. He takes a turd, spit shines it, polishes it and calls it a movie. I don't care what anybody else says.

Machines aren't necessary.  I don't care what anybody says.

I quite agree, mankind does not need machines at all.

Hey dude, you wanna move out to the pennsylvania woods and start a moderately inbred neo-puritan commune, and pretend it's still 1780? =o