Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Peter Bretter (an inspired Jason Segel) is a composer who seems to have it all: a regular income from his day job scoring TV hit show "Crime Scene", which stars his all too perfect girlfriend Sarah Marshall, and a burgeoning dream to stage his all puppet Dracula movie "A Taste For Love".

However, when he is unceremoniously dumped by Sarah (in a memorable male nude scene) his life begins to unravel. Sarah has shacked up with Brit singing lothario Aldous Snow (an impressive Russell Brand) and is holidaying in Hawaii when feckless Pete turns up on a whim to get away from it all.

Judd Apatow and co have scored another hit with this fresh comedy (from the pen of star Segel) that manages to be at once bawdily coarse and surprisingly uncloying for a truly romantic film. The consistently fluctuating relationships create an unconventional sense that anything could happen and the chemistry of all the leads is surprisingly credible, with Mila Kunis providing the fourth side of the square as lovable Rachel, the check-in girl at the hotel, proving that there is life beyond voicing Meg on Family Guy.

There are a handful of specious issues. The length of the Apatow comedy is increasingly and unnecessarily long, with Knocked Up and 40 Year Old Virgin extended editions running at an excessive two hours. The Sarah Marshall DVD does feature a seamlessly branched extended edition (which just pads out supporting sub-plots), but thankfully also includes the tighter theatrical edition.

Peter's brother Nicholas Stoller (Bill Hader) seems particularly dispensable and a few jokes run out of steam quickly (Jonah Hill's obsessive waiter Matthew), though the film certainly has its heart in the right place and the Dracula musical finale (echoed in an uncommonly funny DVD extra) is worth the price of admission alone.

Extras: Theatrical and Extended Versions, Feature Commentary, A Taste For Love, Dracula’s Lament, We’ve Got To Do Something Music Video, Gag Reel, Raw Footage Video Chat, Line-O-Rama, Deleted / Extended / Alternate Scenes, Red Band Trailer.

Released on DVD on 15th September 2008 by Universal.

Written by Simon Cole.