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Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Universal Pictures

Forgetting Sarah Marshall reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 67 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.2 out of 10
based on 37 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 90 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for sexual content, language and some graphic nudity

Starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Bill Hader, and Kala Alexander

Struggling musician Peter Bretter has spent six years idolizing his girlfriend, television star Sarah Marshall. He's the guy left holding her purse in paparazzi photos and accidentally omitted from award acceptance speeches. But his world is rocked when she dumps him and he finds himself alone. After an unsuccessful bout of womanizing and an on-the-job nervous breakdown, he sees that not having Sarah may just ruin his life. To clear his head, Peter takes an impulsive trip to Oahu, where he is confronted by his worst nightmare: His ex and her tragically hip new British-rocker boyfriend, Aldous, are sharing his hotel. But as he torments himself with the reality of Sarah's new life, he finds relief in a flirtation with Rachel, a beautiful resort employee whose laid-back approach tempts him to rejoin the world. He also finds relief in several hundred embarrassing, fruity cocktails. For anyone who has ever had their heart ripped out and cut into a billion pieces comes a hilarious, heartfelt look at relationships. Part romantic comedy, part disaster film, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is the world's first romantic disaster comedy. (Universal Pictures)


GENRE(S): Comedy  |  Romance  
WRITTEN BY: Jason Segel  
DIRECTED BY: Nick Stoller  
RELEASE DATE: Theatrical: April 18, 2008 
RUNNING TIME: 112 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

88
ReelViews James Berardinelli
There's a wit in Segel's writing that marks him as every bit Apatow's equal in this arena.
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88
Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
It's worth seeing just for the banter between Segel and Hader, which recalls the peak conversational riffs from "Knocked Up."
Read Full Review
88
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
A raucous ride through one man's pain.
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83
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Nakedness has rarely looked so...naked. And innately, universally comic.
Read Full Review
80
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
In the Apatow manner, Segel mines a mother lode of painful personal memories for his breakup gags, and the vanity of entertainment people proves to be another rich vein.
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75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Dull moments, so much the rule in most genre comedies, are the exception in Forgetting Sarah Marshall -- it does run long, but it mainly rollicks.
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75
New York Post Lou Lumenick
This film is so funny it may be beside the point to complain that, as in many Apatow productions, the writing and direction are still in something of a state of arrested development.
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75
Miami Herald Connie Ogle
It's terrifically funny and, for a few brief moments, poignant.
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75
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Forgetting Sarah Marshall lacks snap, tension and bravura...Yet the movie is novel and big-hearted. It often succeeds at substituting a smorgasbord of psychological confusions for comic architecture.
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75
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Deserves to ride the wave of the latest, hottest micro-trend in pictures: the romantic comedy for guys.
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75
Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
Make no mistake: This isn't a relentless button-pushing joke machine like the best Apatow schlumpy-man comedies. I guess I'd describe it as "agreeably ribald."
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75
Boston Globe Ty Burr
Predictable but still keeps you laughing along the way.
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75
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Like "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up," Sarah Marshall has all the ingredients of the Apatow brand. Alas, it's beginning to feel generic.
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75
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
That's why Forgetting Sarah Marshall, shorter than "Knocked Up" and more focused than "Superbad," tops all other Apatow productions so far.
Read Full Review
75
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Segel has always played more a serial monogamist than a horndog, and his earnest, self-deprecating screen persona graces the film's crudest moments with a kind of innocence.
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75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Travis Nichols
For about an hour, the movie is essentially Budweiser ad humor writ long ("Dude!") but about halfway through -- after enough members of the "Knocked Up"/"SuperBad" dude squad have all made their requisite cameos -- the movie shows it has a little heart.
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75
USA Today Claudia Puig
The cringingly wacky scenarios, offbeat characters and comic dialogue serve up a crowd-pleasing, laugh-filled experience.
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70
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Ms. Kunis, a petite brunette, plays Rachel, a hotel receptionist by day and a party girl by night (and day), with a sparkling smile, a seductive voice that can sharpen to a rasp and a quick wit that suggests withheld knowledge. Good for her in a sex farce that lets so much hang out.
Read Full Review
70
Slate Dana Stevens
Like its hero, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a little soft around the middle, but all the more loveable for that.
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70
Washington Post Desson Thomson
A refreshingly tender treatment of love gone wrong -- we mean, for a movie that's got enough lowdown sexual content to start its own Kinsey Report.
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70
Village Voice Robert Wilonsky
Without Segel bravely channeling "his own anxieties and obsessions into his clowning," as Pauline Kael wrote about Woody Allen 24 years ago, Forgetting Sarah Marshall would have been easily forgettable and, one might even say, limp.
Read Full Review
70
The Hollywood Reporter John DeFore
Solid rom com finds another Judd Apatow acolyte moving into the spotlight.
Read Full Review
70
Variety Joe Leydon
Segel makes an engaging impression throughout Forgetting Sarah Marshall, gamely making himself the butt of many jokes that involve Peter's non-macho proclivities.
Read Full Review
70
Newsweek David Ansen
If Forgetting Sarah Marshall doesn't reach the inspired heights of "Knocked Up" or "Superbad," it runs a very respectable second.
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70
Time Richard Schickel
This is a fairly low-keyed comedy, but a grown-up dropping in on it can appreciate its lack of frenzy, its fundamental good nature, as easily as its core audience will. It isn’t exactly a gem, but as zircons go, it’ll do.
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70
Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
The movie's big revelation, though, is Brand's Aldous, whose idiot-Lothario exterior masks a frank, accidentally wise and Yoda-like interior, and whom we grow to like more and more despite getting to better know him and his faults. The same can be said about the movie.
Read Full Review
67
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Segel, scripting himself, injects regular bursts of comic genius into the proceedings.
Read Full Review
63
TV Guide Ken Fox
This thin premise is better suited to a half-hour sitcom than a feature film (in fact, there's an episode of Frasier with a very similar setup).
Read Full Review
63
Premiere Glenn Kenny
Yeah, it's pretty funny. And it's a pretty accurate depiction of a certain feature of male romantic humiliation. But it's also a little -- and this is one of my two misgivings about the movie -- expected.
Read Full Review
60
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
As fans of "Freaks and Geeks" know, Segel is a master in the art of humiliation, and it's been a long time since we've seen anyone debase himself so thoroughly for our amusement.
Read Full Review
60
New York Magazine David Edelstein
But even with bits that are crazily inspired, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is depressing. The Apatow Factory is too comfy with its workers’ arrested development to move the boundary posts. If they could find scripts by female writers that dramatize the other side of the Great Sexual Divide, it might be a place of joy--and embarrassed recognition--for everyone.
Read Full Review
60
Empire Nick De Semlyen
A tropical sex comedy that’s a little unfocused, but Segal and co throw plenty of funniness at the wall - and most of it sticks.
Read Full Review
60
The New York Times A.O. Scott
Does not entirely play by the established conventions of its genre. Its willingness to explore states of feeling and modes of behavior that tamer romantic comedies never go near is decidedly a virtue, though this same sense of daring and candor also exposes its limitations.
Read Full Review
60
The New Yorker David Denby
The boyfriend, one Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), a Brit rocker and professional sex god, turns out to be the best thing in the movie.
Read Full Review
58
Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Ultimately, forgettable, but for most of the way it's a pleasant little vacation of a movie.
Read Full Review
50
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Forgetting Sarah Marshall follows the Apatow formula faithfully enough. All that's missing is charisma -- the je ne sais quois that makes us fall in love in the first place.
Read Full Review
40
Film Threat Don R. Lewis
While the film has some laugh out-loud moments, it’s very poorly constructed and what we see onscreen seems to be the victim of either bad editing, poor direction or a script that was rushed into production too quickly.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 90 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ogest gave it a9:
It is a very good movie, funny and entertaining. It's better than average romance comedy. It's a must for Jason Segel fans.

Andrew R. gave it a9:
One of the funniest movies I've seen in awhile.

Bill T gave it a3:
Hard for me to believe anyone thought this was a good movie. The dialogue itself was dull and badly written. How many "totallys" and "awesomes" can people listen to without going nuts? And what was with the nudity? Oh, how risque! Come on--is THIS the best a supposedly great comedy filmmaker can do these days?

Wimblet P. gave it a3:
Would have been a great movie were it not for the guy from 30 Rock making a cameo. When are people going to realize he's playing the same character in every role. Talladega Nights, Conan skits, it's always the same evangelical redneck.

Michal P. gave it a10:
I loved this movie. Definitely not something you want to think about, just sit back and enjoy the jokes.

George F gave it a5:
The movie was moderately entertaining but not worthy of the rave reviews. It is basically a romantic comedy for women with offensive material thrown in for the guys. It should be a big boost for Mila Kunis, but will damage Kristen Bell. The director must hate her.

[Anonymous] gave it a0:
Absolute crap...the fact that these idiots now have control of the Muppets is tragic.

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