Uninspired, Unoriginal and Unrelatable

Rating: Null/10 (20 April 2008)

I saw this because I became a Jason Segel fan after watching every episode Freaks and Geeks but this movie was utter garbage. The comedy value, the most important aspect of a film like this, was awful as I chuckled only twice at the dork on his honeymoon that looked like Tom Cruise who was just so pathetic, I laughed at his attempts of humor out of sympathy. Otherwise, the lame jokes, one liners, the occasional inappropriate swearing (which can be funny if done right) and overall script was either done before or just stupid.
Speaking of done before, this has to be one of the most cliché and predictable story lines of all time except this was one of the worst. I really liked the Heartbreak Kid, my Super Ex Girlfriend and The Break Up because they were somewhat fresh approaches to an all too familiar theme (yes, I know The Heartbreak Kid is a remake) while Forgetting Sarah Marshall was a dull variation of each of these movies. I wanted to walk out about an hour and 10 minutes into it but I wanted to see if it had a surprise and redeemable ending causing all the fuss. Well, to make a long story short, it turned out exactly the way anyone could have expected despite there being a hint that it might go in a different direction.
Finally, I don't think it's fair or important to really judge the acting performances in this movie because the film I watched before this was The Assassination of Richard Nixon in which the acting was top notch while this peaked at about par for an episode of That 70s show. But what really did bother me was how implausible this whole situation would have been if Peter was an everyman instead of a fairly talented musician with a bit of celebrity status. Segel's personality was not very charming nor could he be physically attractive to beautiful women like Sarah or Rachel unless he had that going for him - and I thought the romance between Scotty and Judy in Vertigo was far fetched because of their huge age difference which now seems reasonable compared. This also had a lot to do with the inadequate development and poor script but put Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn or Luke Wilson in Segel's place and it would be a lot more convincing even playing a relatable regular guy as they did in their movies. I don't know, maybe that was the intention here but I didn't like it.
So those are my three biggest complaints of this truly overrated and just plain bad movie I really wanted to like, so take it for what it's worth. Judging by the amount of laughter, I know many more people at the theater enjoyed it more than I did but I'd be surprised if anybody would say it was that great judging by the long pauses between the few collective laughs. In conclusion, I don't recommend even wasting your time watching the DVD if you have any taste.