By Natasha Felder

Jason Segel (Knocked Up, TV’s How I Met Your Mother) stars as Peter Bretter, a composer for a popular crime drama who happens to be dating, or was dating, the star of that show Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). After an embarrassing break up (So funny I almost choked), Jason does everything he can to forget her with no success. Eventually he decides to go to Hawaii where he finds his ex there with her new boyfriend. Let the comedy ensue.

And boy does it.

Mr. Segel both wrote and stars in this movie and he didn’t miss a beat in either role. As Peter, he’s charming, funny, sweet and talented. It’s easy to see why Sarah would have dated him. Not only is he all of the attributes I just listed, he’s also identifiable. Everyone has been through a breakup and the situations this character finds himself in are so familiar, for men and women, it would be hard not to find something in there that rings true. Kristen Bell (Heroes) is also great. She’s not given much to do, but when she’s on screen you hate her and love her at the time and that takes talent. Sarah Marshall crushes Peter’s soul, yet manages to remain likeable because you can tell she feels awful about it. The supporting cast is not outdone here. Russell Brand plays Aldous Snow, the rock star that stole Sarah’s heart. He’s killer, I mean absolutely killer. A good deal of everything that comes out of his mouth is funny. His performance reminds me of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s in Charlie Wilson’s War. Every time Aldous was on screen I laughed…hard. The employees at the Hawaiian resort are great as well. Everyone is given great lines and they deliver.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is filled with laugh after laugh. In one scene, Peter performs a song from his rock opera; it starts out strange and ends up being one of the funniest parts of the movie. His relationship with his step-brother/best friend is wicked funny and they put good use to the video chat feature on Mac computers.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is funny, but there are times when it lags. And when a joke isn’t funny, it REALLY isn’t funny. Luckily enough, those times are few and far between. The best thing about this movie is how true it feels. No one’s a bad guy. People are just people. They mess up, they do good, but in the end no one is perfect. Breakups may be hard, but they’re also funny. We’re just so full of gloom and doom while going through them, that we can’t see it.

I’m giving Forgetting Sarah Marshall a big recommendation. This movie’s for guys, girls, bees and puppies. Everyone should see it as long as they can handle crude humor. Oh, and did I mention there’s some serious Full Monty from the star, ladies? I did? Well, it’s worth mentioning twice.

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