Forgetting Sarah Marshall

NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (Universal), the latest romantic comedy from the producer of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up," is often touching and funny.

But, like its predecessors, it is also frequently vulgar.

Jason Segel plays Peter Bretter, a TV composer, and also wrote the often perceptive script and occasional songs.

When Peter's longtime actress girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) -- star of a ludicrous police procedural series called "Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime," scored by Peter -- announces she's leaving, he's at his most vulnerable: standing naked in front of her. Peter is disconsolate, poring out his heart to his brother, Brian (Bill Hader).

Remembering how Sarah always raved about Hawaii, he flies there to nurse his wounds, only to find Sarah already ensconced with her new boyfriend, Aldous Snow, a flamboyant British rock star (scene-stealer Russell Brand). The hotel's empathetic receptionist, Rachel (Mila Kunis), witnesses their reunion, and before long she offers Peter platonic companionship. Soon Peter becomes genuinely smitten with her, leading to romantic complications.

In its essentials, the setup is not unlike Noel Coward's famous "Private Lives," where former spouses find they're sharing adjoining rooms with their new mates.

Take out the raunchy elements from first-time director Nicholas Stoller's film, and underneath the belly laughs there's a surprisingly sensitive story that makes intelligent points about relationships. Despite farcical elements, the characters are believable -- especially Segal, whose vulnerability is simultaneously funny and painful.

The humor is rarely mean-spirited, as in the scene where Rachel sets Peter up to perform a song from his long-gestating "Dracula" musical ("A Taste for Love"), and he gamely does so. Some films would go for cheap laughs, with booing and catcalls, but here the crowd listens in semiembarrassed silence, and applauds politely. It's one sweet and compassionate moment out of many.

In some respects, too, there's a good moral underpinning. The characters behave generally with a sense of maturity, even in the Peter/Aldous, and Sarah/Rachel encounters. And the solicitude offered by the hotel staff -- surf instructor Chuck (Paul Rudd), waiter Matthew (Jonah Hill), confidante Kemo (Taylor Wily), bartender Dwayne (Da'Vone McDonald) -- to the plainly hurting Peter demonstrates an admirable humanity.

But -- and it's a big "but" -- the objectionable elements below (so characteristic of the Apatow brand of R-rated comedy) are too pervasive to ignore, including for instance, the subplot about a religiously inhibited newlywed (Jack McBrayer) with his not-so-reticent young bride. But it's a credit to the film that if all these objectionable elements were excised it could still be effective and appealing.

The film contains sexual encounters, some aberrant, with partial nudity, a full-frontal male-nudity sight gag, frank sexual talk, nonmarital situations, much rough language including irreverent remarks, and comic violence. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops