Review
By Kevin Crossman
Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a satisfying entry in the Apatow Productions pantheon, following up on 2005's The 40 Year-Old Virgin and 2007's Knocked Up. Director Nick Stoller is at the helm in the film written by costar Jason Segel. Judd Apatow is onboard but as a producer for this endeavor, but nonetheless features crew from other productions such as Superbad, Undeclared, and Freaks and Geeks.
Struggling musician Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) has spent six years idolizing his girlfriend, television
star Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). He’s the guy left holding her purse in paparazzi photos and accidentally omitted
from acceptance award speeches. But when she decides to break up with him, Peter’s world falls apart. To clear his
head and lift his spirits, he takes an impulsive trip to Hawaii, where he runs into the last thing he expects to see: His
ex and her hip new British-rocker boyfriend, Aldous (Russell Brand), staying at his hotel. Even as Peter keeps
running into the two people he is trying to avoid, he finds comic relief and support in his new-found hotel buddies,
including a growing flirtation with Rachel (Mila Kunis), the beautiful resort staff employee whose laid-back philosophy
inspires him to get back on track and rejoin the world. In the process, Peter discovers what makes him feel truly
happy...his vampire musical project, a daring albeit unplanned dip in the ocean, and the pleasures of many, many
fruity cocktails.
Knocked Up's Jason Segel is the star in this surpisingly charming and hilarious romantic comedy. Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell both portray characters with depth and nuance and both are excellent at balancing the emotion with the crazier antics of characters from Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, Jack McBrayer, and others.
The extended version of the movie restores seven minutes of footage, most of which is a funny but ultimately unnecessary scene with Kristen Wiig as a yoga instructor. Many fans of Wiig (Knocked Up, Walk Hard) were looking forward to this scene and were disappointed when it was cut from the theatrical version. Thankfully, fans will be satisfied by the inclusion in the extended version on home video. Even better, the additional footage in Forgetting Sarah Marshall does not make the film feel considerably longer, as it did in The 40 Year-Old Virgin, nor does this version omit footage from theatres as did Apatow's production of Talladega Nights.
Overall
The extras provide a considerable wealth of insightful and hilarious material. For those who love the Muppet/Dracula aspect of the film, there's a lot of material to dig through. For those, like myself, who didn't love that you will still find there's plenty of value with this collection.
The Movie: 
The Extras: 
Technical Details and Extras
The following bonus features are featured exclusively on The Unrated Collector’s
Edition DVD:
- AUDITIONS FROM THE CAST AND CREW
- RAW FOOTAGE: Additional footage of Peter (Segel) and Aldous (Brand) meeting in the hotel lobby.
- More improvisation from Russell Brand. Funny stuff.
- “DRACULA’S LAMENT”: An alternate version of Peter singing to Rachel (Kunis) and Sarah Marshall (Bell).
- CINEMAX FINAL CUT: FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL: Watch an uncensored interview with the cast as they talk about the naked break-up scene, meeting Russell Brand and the Segel family reaction.
- Definitely worth watching. Lots of comments, including those by Bill Hader and Judd Apatow who are missed in some of the other extras material.
The following bonus features are featured on both The Unrated Collector’s Edition DVD and Blu-rayTM Hi-Def:
- DELETED AND EXTENDED SCENES: Over 2 hours of deleted and extended scenes.
- These deleted scenes are better than those on the first disc. There's a very funny scene with Sarah Marshall riding a horse that is among the funniest of any scene on screens this year.
- LINE-O-RAMA: See your favorite scenes again but this time with different jokes!
- An Apatow standard. Very funny stuff.
- GAG REEL: Watch hilarious outtakes one after the other.
- There's a great bit with Jonah Hill blowing his lines and forgetting to pick up a glass.
- “WE’VE GOT TO DO SOMETHING” – MUSIC VIDEO
- “DRACULA’S LAMENT”: Jason Segel’s table read version of the film’s hilarious Dracula song.
- “A TASTE FOR LOVE”: Watch how the crew created the puppets used in the film.
- RAW FOOTAGE: Watch the video chats between Jason Segel and Bill Hader.
- RED BAND TRAILER: Watch the unrated version of the theatrical trailer.
- Feature Commentary with director Nick Stoller, executive producer Rodney Rothman, producer Shauna Robertson, writer/star Jason Segel, and cast members Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell
Brand and Jack McBrayer.
- A little chaotic at times, with McBrayer recording his bit in New York while the rest are in Los Angeles. But you can really hear the comradarie between the actors and creative principals in this entertaining commentary. Kristen Bell is unavailable to record but the others call her while she is preparing for a talk show and get her to add commentary via cellphone. One of the most unusual commentaries we've heard.
- PUPPET BREAK-UP: Watch the hilarious behind-the-scenes footage of Jason Segel and the puppet break-up scene.
- SEX-O-RAMA: Montage of Jason Segel’s sex scene.
- DRUNK-O-RAMA: Montage of Jason Segel’s drunken Hawaiian night.
- More unseen footage here than in Sex-O-Rama.
- RUSSELL BRAND: ALDOUS SNOW: Get to know the British rock star!
- “THE LETTER U”: Aldous Snow’s (Brand) television show for kids.
- CRIME SCENE: Alternate Scenes and Hunter Rush (Billy Baldwin) Line-O-Rama
- Some very funny stuff with Billy Baldwin. Look for Director Nick Stoller and producer Shauna Robertson as part of the Crime Scene cast in the opening credits sequence.
- SARAH’S NEW SHOW: Watch Alternate versions of Sarah Marshall’s (Bell) television shows.
- More with Kristen Bell and Jason Bateman. This is funny stuff, but stay through to the end - you won't regret watching this hilarious DVD extra.
- VIDEO DIARIES: Watch video footage from over 20 days of shooting!
- We wish more movies did these video diaries, which are also an Apatow Productions staple. There's lots of insider stuff, including an injury suffered by Mila Kunis and Paul Rudd's troubles with spray-on-tan and hair dye
The third disc in the Unrated Collectors Edition DVD includes a digital copy of the movie for transfer to PC, Mac, iPod, etc. I was unable to test this since the file cannot be activated until street date.
Technical Details
- Street Date: September 30, 2008
- Copyright: 2008 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved
- Price: $34.98 SRP
- Running Time: Rated: 1 hour 51 minute, Unrated: 1 hour 58 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1, Full Frame 1.33:1
- Rating: R for Sexual Content, language and some graphic nudity
- Languages/Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Purchase the DVD
