Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

I had been saving this movie for when I really needed a stupid comedy to make me laugh. Since I haven't been feeling well, I thought there was no better time than the present. The fact that expectations were semi-high is always a sign for disaster.

Movie Poster of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"

A lovable loser type music composer Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) gets his heart broken after a 5 year relationship with TV star girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). He has a really hard time getting over her so he decides to go to Hawaii for a change of scenery so he can forget her. Of course, as fate would have it, she happens to be vacationing at the same resort with her current rock star boyfriend Aldous Snow (Russell Brand).

Before I say anything else, let me first say that I do not mind puerile, mindless comedy. I do not mind some crude humor here and there. I laughed at "Borat" and actually loved "SuperBad". This one which is closer to a romantic comedy, should be right up my alley then, right? Wrong.

I had to ponder to figure out what the difference was - why I didn't like this one - but liked the others. It finally occurred to me that this is a romantic comedy ... for DUDES. Borat was a comedy and SuperBad was a buddy comedy - that's cool beans. But now we need to make romantic comedies for dudes? I almost find it offensive. Almost all genres of movies are already focused on the male audience so we have to take one of the few genres previously known as chick flicks and make those for men too? What about movies for women? Do we as an audience no longer matter at all?

That is why I didn't like this movie very much. I don't mind going in to see a men's comedy, a men's buddy film, a men's action movie - I know what I am going to get from them and enjoy many of them. But I also like to see the occasional chick flick. I am worried that there is a new trend of trying to add elements that men find funny into the chick flicks so more men will watch them too. I will be honest, I don't want my romantic comedies littered with stupid penis jokes and crude humor every five seconds. I will watch a guy's comedy for that stuff, not a romantic comedy done up for dudes. If we sit through their "death and destruction" movies to be with them they should be willing to sit through a true "chick flick" with us.

Feh. Please, anyone else seen this and have an opinion?