Rating:

As it loudly proclaims in all of its previews, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a Judd Apatow production – so it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that it’s more of a romantic comedy than anything else.

It’s worth mentioning, however, that this story is significantly more kind to its male lead than most chick flicks, especially other Apatow creations — namely, Knocked Up.

This is most likely thanks to the fact that the film was written by its male star, Jason Segel. Producer Apatow has a history of simply asking the main characters of his films to write a script based on their own lives – and hey, there are worse ways to make a movie.

Either way, we have the story of Peter Bretter (Segel), a not-so-famous everyman, who happens to be dating a very famous starlet by the name of – you guessed it, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell).

But she dumps him in exchange for an even more famous British rock star, and in a wacky coincidence they all end up in Hawaii trying to forget each other. This is also where Bretter falls in love with the hotel’s laid-back desk girl, played by Mila Kunis.

Surely, you can figure the rest out for yourself. Jokes are pretty sparse, and aside from several jarring cuts to random sex scenes (including, yes, several shots of Segel’s penis), the film is largely bland and uninspired.

Even famous people, even in Hawaii, people apparently fall in love in predictable, petty, and self-centered ways. That’s the message the film wants us to understand.

But, there is some hope for the future of the “Stealth Chick Flick.”

We here at Melted Reel weren’t the only ones to complain about Apatow’s Knocked Up as an absurd exercise in emasculation, as the film’s badass main character had to pull the plug on his entire life in order to fall obligatorily in love.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall, on the other hand, celebrates the hopes and dreams of its male protagonist, rather than shifting the storyline to appease a female audience it barely tried to court.

Bretter is a music composer who, after spending years toiling to write scores for TV dramas, becomes inspired to fulfill his destiny to create – you’ll love this – a rock opera based on the story of Dracula.

And it is only after he accomplishes this that he can find happiness with the woman of his dreams.

So, meh. Only in this fluffy philosophical way does Forgetting Sarah Marshall depart from the formulas of the typical romantic comedy, and even then it doesn’t surprise us. Like everything else in the film, it sort of meanders to its conclusion, making the 112 minute running time seem nearly a half hour too long.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot! You totally get to see Mila Kunis’ boobs in the movie. So, you know… if that’s your thing, it’s got it for you.

If You Hated This, You Will Also Totally Hate:

• Legend of the Stealth Chick Flick
• A Sad State of Affairs
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• Psycho
• Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner