I saw this movie because it got rave reviews from lots, I mean lots, of other movie critics. Oh, folks, hoodwinked by the critics, again!
This so-called romantic comedy is really a slacker fantasy. It’s the latest in the recent string of Judd Appatow-produced tales (such as Knocked Up and Superbad) in which man-boys with no redeemable qualities somehow get beautiful women to fall in love with them. It was written by its lead actor, Jason Segel (Knocked Up) who within moments of the opening, coyly reveals quick cuts at the family jewels. It wasn’t shocking so much as “so what?” I kept asking that same question throughout the movie.
One afternoon in L.A. after watching TV all day, Peter gets the heave-ho from his girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell, TV’s Veronica Mars), who is the blonde star of the CSI-like TV show for which Peter writes the music stings. Sarah, bored out of her mind by Peter’s puerile neediness, can’t stand even one more shot of frontal male nudity and walks out.
Peter goes to a resort in Hawaii to escape his misery–only to run into Sarah and her sexy new boyfriend, who are staying at the same hotel. Played by Russell Brand (Penelope), British rocker Aldous Snow is the most engaging character in the film, and it’s not just the gyrations he does in his skintight black leather pants. Witty, clueless, self-obsessed, he’s still the only character in the entire comedy who laughs at himself.
Meanwhile, the pretty brunette hotel guest relations manager Rachel (Mila Kunis, TV’s Family Guy) inexplicably turns up Peter’s getting-laid quotient. Sometime later, her love inspires the revival of his creativity back in L.A. and he finally writes the rock musical with puppets that he always dreamed of. But a good last scene does not a good movie make.
Thanks to a motley crew of other secondary characters, there are a few funny moments in Forgetting, which is why I ratcheted up the film’s rating from “Bomb” to “Ho-hum. Do your wallet a favor–wait until it comes out on bargain DVD.