Forgetting Sarah Marshall

by Lauren Gitlin October 3, 2008 3:53 PM
Forgetting Sarah Marshall Forgetting Sarah Marshall is one of the better apples to have fallen off the Apatow wagon in recent years, and those who saw it in the theaters would be hard pressed to imagine that they really left anything out, considering the sheer volume of male full frontal nudity. Indeed, the uncut version doesn't add too much to what we already enjoyed in the Cineplex, with the possible exception of an entirely unexplored character in the form of Kristen Wiig as a (surprise!) passive-aggressive yoga instructor. The real meat (pun intended) of this 3-Disc collector's edition DVD lies in the fairly extensive deleted scenes, which serve to highlight the serious comedic talent of the film's lesser players (Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader). Seriously there is a lot of bonus material here, so brace yourselves. At least you'll know you're getting your money's worth.

Disc One

Deleted/Extra Scenes: Any excuse to spend more time with Russell Brand's hysterical Aldous Snow is OK by me, and two of the six deleted scenes included in the Bonus Features affords this opportunity. There's also a little more from the sex-plagued couple, Tammy Littlenut and Kenneth the Page, wherein we learn -- unsurprisingly -- that they're Mormons from Utah, hence their sexual difficulties. There's a sweet but unnecessary parting scene between Peter and Sarah that prolly would've tipped the movie into saccharine territory had it been included in the movie, and one rad one with Bill Hader, who's also welcome to grace my screen for as long as he'd like, and a great line that Peter delivers that's almost as good as the "you know how I know you're gay?" bit that was one of the most memorable extras from The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Line-O-Rama: This shows the principal actors improvising lines and it's pretty radagascar. Jonah Hill and Paul Rudd are clearly the maestros of this particular comedic skill. There's also a retardedly stellar extended scene with a particularly enthusiastic paparazzo that's not to be missed, and more from Wiig's kookie yoga instructor character.

Gag reel: Just that, and essentially a lesser version of Line-O-Rama, but charming and funny nonetheless.

We've Got to Do Something (music video): An extended version of the music video featured in the faux Extra segment about Aldous Snow's band Infant Sadness. You got the highlights in the movie proper, but like I said, no such thing as too much Russell Brand.

Dracula's Lament (table read): A nice little touch, this is a very insider-y bonus feature that has Jason Segel and Mila Kunis doing a table read of the scene in Lazy Joe's where he performs "Dracula's Lament" on keyboard. Nothing revolutionary but it seems in keeping with the general motif of the DVD package, which is that nothing's off limits, and the creators are fully engaged in trying to welcome the audience over to the other side of the camera.

A Taste of Blood: Turns out, Jason Segel is as big of a dorkie freak show as the character he played in the movie, in that he was actually writing a Vampire-inspired musical in real life -- no joke -- at the same time that he was penning the script for Forgetting Sarah Marshall. So he incorporated it into the film as a character quirk. Not only is this behind the scenes "making of 'A Taste of Blood'" adorable, it confirms Jason Segel as the sweetest Muppet-obsessed nerd ever to have walked the planet. Love it!

Raw Footage -- Video chat: Not sure why exactly they decided to set this particular scene apart rather than filing it under the general extra/deleted scenes or gag reel rubric, but it's just an extended, split-screen version of the video chat between Jason Segel and Bill Hader. Funny, but no big whoop.

Red Band trailer: It's clear after watching the trailer that a lot of it actually came from scenes/cuts that weren't included in the theatrical release. Not that that's unusual, but it always sort of pisses me off when movies do that. Whatever, I'll get over it I guess.

Director's commentary: The commentary from director Nicholas Stoller, Jason Segel and some of the principal actors just serves to illustrate that the movie was as fun to make as it was to watch ... These people seem to genuinely enjoy each others' humor, which makes for not only a great finished product but a fairly hysterical repartee for the commentary.

Disc Two

For the true obsessive, this disc features still more deleted extra scenes, plus an extended version of Peter torturing Sarah with "Dracula's Lament," some more footage from "A Taste for Love," a longer shot of Peter in bed with the girl who won't shut up, an awesome extended scene with Peter and various girly fruity drinks. The highlight of this disc, though, is ....

Russell Brand: Aldous Snow, which is a segment devoted entirely to how the character came to be, and features actual footage of Brand's original audition tape. For a gal like me who thinks the Brit was the best part of this movie (and that's saying something), I ate this beeswax up.

Ditto The Letter U with Aldous Snow, which is a sort of parody of Sesame Street featuring the British juggernaut

And if you haven't fallen asleep by now or are an outsized fan of this movie, you'll find an entire sub-menu featuring extra scenes from the fictional show Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime, which I believe was added entirely so as to not make Billy Baldwin feel superfluous in this movie.

Jesus Christ, will it ever end? The disc also includes fake promos from Sarah Marshall's new show(s) -- Animal Instincts, Super Strong, Ghost Cop, Divine Justice, Life's A Bitch, Walks With Angels and Jesus H. Cop -- it's actually pretty effing hilar in that it exploits every single crime drama cliche you can think of. And squee! It features a sexy cameo from none other than Jason Bateman as her trusty sidekick. So OK, this feature is totally aces.

OK, there's also raw footage of Peter and Aldous in the hotel lobby, a video diary that painstakingly (but admittedly entertainingly) chronicles the movie's production schedule, and some choice snippets from the principal actors' audition tapes (though not, sadly, Jonah Hill's. This they skimp on?). Christ, this DVD package should be called "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the Making of Forgetting Sarah Marshall But Were Wise Not to Ask Because You Didn't Have Six Hours To Kill."

As if that weren't enough, there's also the Cinemax Final Cut of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, whatever that is. You watch it and let me know. I'm done.

Disc Three

Yes, there's a disc three. It's just the movie in a Mac and Windows PC friendly format though so relax.

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