Directed by: Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Russell Brand, Mila Kunis, Jonah Hill
Rating: R

Jonah Hill and Jason Segel in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. (Courtesy photo)

As a general rule, I recommend avoiding most movies with an ‘ing’ in the title. Sometimes they make sense—Being John Malkovich was actually about being John Malkovich. But more often we’re told that we’re Finding Forrester, or Bringing Down the House or Teaching Mrs. Tingle. If the ‘ing’ title sounds like a freshman composition, it’s probably not a very good movie. In this case, the title is on target, since Forgetting Sarah Marshall is precisely what the main character spends the entire film trying to do. Forgetting Sarah Marshall is another hilarious mix of raunchy-but-true and insightful juvenilia. It’s also very romantic.

Writer and star Jason Segel (Freaks & Geeks, How I Met Your Mother) plays Peter Bretter, who has just broken up with television star Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). Peter does not take it well—at all. In an effort to move on, Peter heads off to Hawaii and finds himself staying at the same hotel as Sarah and her new boyfriend, bad boy rocker Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). Peter does not handle this well either. But he begins to cope with the cheerful help of hotel employee Rachel Jansen (Mila Kunis).

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a good 10 minutes too long and indulges in two completely disposable subplots: Jonah Hill as a fawning fan of Aldous (kind of funny, but too much); the gleefully unique Jack McBrayer as a newlywed who is having trouble consummating his marriage (really dumb and incredibly funny). But the four main characters are all so utterly engaging that the comic excess is easy to forgive. There really isn’t anyone quite like Jason Segel. He isn’t a great actor, but he has an openness, a vulnerability that most actors can’t imagine. Segel is that guy who decides to run a marathon without training, frightens everyone by trying way too hard, then wins everyone over in the end by his sheer joy in the experience. Segel will probably disturb you at times in the movie—we get a far more intimate examination of Segel’s body than we would like. But by the end he will have you loving him. Russell Brand is a rising star on British television, which generates charismatic weirdos better than anywhere else. He is something to behold, somehow managing to create a bigger-than-life celebrity showboat who still seems like he dwells in our world. Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis have tougher jobs, as Segel the writer is not nearly as adept at fashioning his female characters. Bell’s basic character description would be “not as perfect as she seems.” Kunis would be described as “too good to be true.” But where the writer falls short, the actresses and director make up for it, almost completely through reaction shots. Kunis, who was always so forgettable as the spoiled Jackie on That 70’s Show, reveals herself to be an expert good-sport dream girl. Kunis may just have leading lady chops after all. Veronica Mars and Lost star Bell certainly does, managing to keep Sarah from turning into a pure villain. There’s also great support from Saturday Night Live alum Bill Hader (Superbad), who is getting more comfortable on the big screen; and the unstoppable Paul Rudd (Knocked Up), who adds another great comic character to his growing resume.

So producer Judd Apatow’s juggernaut gets back on track after a few recent misfires. There is a tonal continuity to his movies that limits the impact of the director, but Nicholas Stoller, one of Apatow’s stable of directors on the great one-year series Undeclared, does solid work. Forgetting Sarah Marshall suffers from wish-fulfillment syndrome: the writer-star, who obviously crafted this story in large part from his own experiences, makes sure to even the score with his own life. In doing so he stacks the deck a little too much in his favor. But what makes it all so affecting is the honesty that infects both the comedy and the romance. Like Knocked Up and Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is only for audiences Judd Apatow’s age and younger (he’s 40). They’re all smart comedies made by smart men who know they have to grow up, but really don’t want to.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, California. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard residents for many years.