Forgetting Sarah Marshall

I've been wanting to see this since it came out. I love the Judd Apatow crew. They make guy movies, but real guy movies, about dudes who are funny and smart and sometimes stupid, not in the best shape, not pretty, but cute and allowed to be sensitive and nerdy. The kind of guys I like. These movies make me laugh, a lot.

I went to a Sunday matinee with my mum yesterday. I was kind of worried she wouldn't like it, so I didn't relax into the movie as quickly as I otherwise might have. The turning point came at about the quarter-way mark, when the main dude (whose character name I completely forget, but is played by Jason Segel, who also wrote the script) is forced onto stage to sing a song from his rock opera (that he wants to make with puppets) about Dracula. The song is sung in a dracula voice, and it was awesome, and I relaxed, because I knew I was watching something a little bit special.

The movie starts in the claustrophobia making indoor settings of shuttered apartments and swank clubs, which makes for a purposely uncomfortable movie experience, but the bulk of the film is set in Hawaii. Lalalalala. It makes me want to sing and spread my arms wide, and I spent as much of the movie as anything just gazing at the beaches and ocean. It was perfect for a grey Vancouver day. It was a runner-up to The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Superbad, just because I found the structural unity of the movie as a whole to feel a little awkward. But I still really enjoyed myself. It made me pretty happy (singing puppets can do that to a girl).

Oh yeah! Apparently Jason Segel is directing the next Muppets movie! Excitement!

4.5/5 stars.