I enjoyed the film almost as much as I enjoyed tropic thunder. sometimes we all just have to pull our heads out of the high and mighty clouds, and just watch a movie instead of analyzing it.

I hardly think she was pouring her soul out and throwing herself at him. I think it's more that she's an insecure shallow shell of a being, like all women are. when she had everything going for her she could get away with trading peter in for the newer model, but when her acting career fell to shit, her life was coming apart at the seams, and her current man left her (instead of her being in control and leaving him, like she is used to doing with her decisions in life), she realized how fragile everything was, and ended up trying to get back with peter because she assumed he was pathetic and needy enough to fall right back into her arms. he was a backup plan to her.

the chick that he met a few days ago showed him something new, something he liked in his life. it was an experience in being together with a member of the opposite sex that didn't involve someone being in control of his life. sarah's heartfelt speech about how it's peter's fault that she left him was her inability to deal with not being the center of attention with him, like she's used to with her career and stuff. you can see things like that all throughout the film, when they flash back to things like photographers taking shots of her and telling peter to get out of the way, and stuff like that.

Syd Lexia wrote:

FNJ wrote: I hardly think she was pouring her soul out and throwing herself at him. I think it's more that she's an insecure shallow shell of a being, like all women are. when she had everything going for her she could get away with trading peter in for the newer model, but when her acting career fell to shit, her life was coming apart at the seams, and her current man left her (instead of her being in control and leaving him, like she is used to doing with her decisions in life), she realized how fragile everything was, and ended up trying to get back with peter because she assumed he was pathetic and needy enough to fall right back into her arms. he was a backup plan to her. See, if the movie at any point ever gave off any sort of vibe, that Sarah Marshall was just some cold calculating bitch and Peter was nothing more than a stepping stone for her, it would have been a lot better. But it doesn't, so unless you have own cynical assumptions about the female mind, Sarah never comes off as antagonist. But instead, we find out that Sarah didn't break up with Peter for an exciting relationship with a famous rocker, she broke up with him because he spent most of his free time sulking in his apartment and once wore the same pair of sweatpants for an entire week. He absolutely was pathetic and needy, and she tried all sorts of things to snap him out of it but he was "too stupid to notice". And when that didn't work, their relationship ended. Then, after Sarah leaves, Peter begins taking some risks, which is what she wanted for him all along. I don't think there's any question that she loved him. If she was as evil as you want to believe she was, she would have stayed with Infant Sorrow Guy, because that would have kept her in the tabloids and been better for her career. As I said before, the problem is that everyone is too nice. Even the self-involved English rocker, who writes pedantic songs and thinks he has the right to fuck everything that moves, isn't a bad guy; he teaches the creepy guy from 30 Rock how to make love.

truthfully, I don't even believe all of what I said. most of it maybe, but a lot of that was just spice. I was trying in my own special way to say the following:

I don't think it's that she set out to be a cold calculating bitch, so much as that's what she felt would be okay to do.

I think that at the base of it, you're watching a film that tells two sides of a story. if you and I got into a fight, I could say that it's all your fault and that I tried, and on the other end you could say the same about me. to anyone on the outside, they'd see two guys fighting and then form their own opinions on who was right and who was wrong. I think that's what makes this film so interesting to me. there is no clear cut sinner or saint. It's saying "nobody is perfect."

You took away from that "fight" that peter is a dick and sarah is likeable enough to not be a bitch, I took away from it that sarah is a bitch, and peter found something better that made him more happy.

maybe what we can take away from this film is that at the end of the day, peter and sarah just weren't right for each other. while he was dating her he just wasn't motivated to do anything, and yet when things change and he meets this different kind of girl, something gets him in the mood to chase his dream and finish his musical. Sarah also isn't getting the short end of the stick like most would in a film like this, by showing that she got a new show, and things are almost back to normal. if it was really out to make her look like the bad guy, they could have easily just left her alone and with a crashing and burning career.

and infant sorrow guy dumped her, not the other way around, so I don't think she could have really just stuck with him.