"Forgetting Sarah Marshall" It's Fine

     When you hear about some of the best rom coms, a name that often comes up is Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Except I never really understood that. This isn't the first time I watched this film. I'm a pretty sappy person and a big sucker for them, so when I watched this film for the first time I was just confused. Like it's alright? But to me the film largely felt like a bit of Peter just meandering across some resort. So I decided this time to give this film a second shot, surely it can't be that bad. Plus I would say my attention span has been repaired somewhat compared to when I first watched the film (and I now like Jason Segel significantly more because of HIMYM). Let's talk about it.

    My younger self's analysis isn't wrong, this film is really just Peter meandering across a resort for most of it, but this time around I found a much deeper appreciation for the cast of characters that Peter meets in his journey to find himself after a pretty bad breakup. Whether it's Darald, or Kemo, or Dwayne or Chuck, it's pretty funny to watch all of these characters try to console him whilst also pulling him in a bunch of different directions. And I'm loathe to praise Russell Brand bus his Aldous Snow was pretty spot on I must admit. Perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood before but for a relatively short film it has a pretty fun and diverse set of side characters that help keep you on your toes the entire time. No one's just automatically consoling Peter, it's not some big pity party, they're just trying to get him to do something.

    Now I will say, even still, the plot isn't the strongest suit of the movie. The first halfish involves Peter just moping around, and it only becomes really interesting when Kristen Bell's character, Sarah, reveals that Peter hasn't exactly been the dutiful boyfriend he's making it out to seem. I think her speech to Peter when she reveals that she just couldn't just drown with him really touched me and it made me sympathetic towards her character. In fact, I'm sympathetic to her for the rest of the film, though I do think cheating on him was the wrong move. So much so that by the end of the film, I was kind of rooting for Peter to get with no one, neither Rachel or Sarah, because a part of me felt he just needed to learn to be better for himself.

    I mean I don't particularly agree with the decision to have Dwayne convince Rachel to go make up with Peter at the end of the film. I mean Peter makes it seem like Sarah committed the ultimate sin cheating on him, and I know technically Sarah cheated on him way longer I still don't think his cheating was warranted. Though I guess you could argue they never really establish what Peter and Rachel are, and honestly I think Rachel's one of the weaker characters in the film. It just kind of feels like she exists to push Peter out of his comfort zone, except also everyone tells him she doesn't like him that much, and she also rejects him at first too, but then decides to kiss him? I just think the film should have ended with Rachel seeing Peter's play and then them agreeing to hang out sometime soon, just as friends for now.

Final Score: 65/100

    All of this to say, I don't get it. The film is pretty solid, and I think it's pretty refreshing to have a rom-com where the characters can swear quite liberally, since it makes the dialogue feel a bit more realistic. Like you're telling me a dude who just went through an awful breakup isn't just going to yell fuck a bunch? I just don't see what makes it all-timer. It's not even like the film's that old either I was surprised to find out it actually released in 2008 and not earlier in the 2000's. Maybe I just need to be in a terrible breakup with someone to understand this movie, or maybe I just needed to be even more depressed to watch this film? (I originally watched this film hoping it would make me warm and feel good or whatever only to come out kind of eh overall). Either way maybe you'll get more out of it, but I'm not sure I did.