Jason Segel as Peter, Kristen Bell as Sarah and Russell Brand as Aldous in ''Forgetting Sarah Marshall.'' (Courtesy photo)

By Bob Polunsky
Guest Columnist
 
“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” borrows a plot from a 1931 Noel Coward Broadway show and modernizes it with casual clothes and rough language.

It also adds a drawn-out male nude scene for shock value, and the net result is that the male character gets all the laughs and all the sympathy.

If you’re familiar with Noel Coward’s plays, you’ll recognize “Sarah Marshall’s” link to Coward’s “Private Lives,” one of the most durable chick flicks produced on both stage and screen.

Coward was a master of witty dialogue that put actresses in the spotlight more than their male counterparts, and the most popular actresses of his time took advantage of it. They knew that witty dialogue gave them control over the show.

It took a producer like Judd Apatow to reverse Coward’s long-standing tribute to women in film versions of his plays. He does it with “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” by forcing the male lead to control the show in spite of – and also because of – embarrassing situations that get laughs.

Noel Coward had enabled many actresses to do the same thing with “Private Lives,” the perennial marriage bust-up comedy that Gertrude Lawrence, Tallullah Bankhead, Tammy Grimes (who won a Tony for her performance), Maggie Smith and Elizabeth Taylor (performing onstage to prove she could do it) did in countless Broadway revivals.  Norma Shearer starred in the only film officially based on Coward’s original play and got some of her best reviews for her performance. 

“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” uses one of the basic premises of “Private Lives” to get the plot rolling.
But we first have to meet the characters. Musician Peter Bretter (“How I Met Your Mother’s” Jason Segel) is consistently waiting for his superstar girl friend, Sarah Marshall (“Veronica Mars” and “Heroes” star Kristen Bell), to give him a second look.

She ignores him when giving speeches and talking to fans, so he usually fades into the background. Then Sarah does what we expected her to do all along: She dumps him in spite of the fact that he spent six years of his life idolizing her.

If Peter were a Noel Coward character, he would have a nervous breakdown or, at the very least, retreat further into his shell. Instead, he turns into a womanizer in an effort to, as we are obviously reminded, forget Sarah Marshall.

The plot makes a U-turn when Peter decides to get away from the sad memories of his love life. He sails to far-off Hawaii, and here is where Coward’s “Private Lives” comes into play because Sarah Marshall and her new boyfriend, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), are also in Hawaii at the same hotel in the room right next door to Peter! 

In “Private Lives” the leading lady divorces her husband, marries another man and spends her honeymoon next door to her ex-husband and his new bride. It was a touchy situation that gave the leading lady a chance to dominate the show with witty dialogue that showed how much she resented her ex-husband.
Judd Apatow lets Peter control “Sarah Marshall” by giving him the witty dialogue instead, and the end result is a laugh-fest with Peter getting the last laugh. He realizes that he’s finally in control of his life.     
 
Studio rating: R for all the right reasons
Bob says: “A popcorn movie for young adults” 
3 Stars