Get him to the Greek Review

Originally posted Monday June 14, 2010:

Get him to the Greek Review

First off, let me start by saying that I hate Russell Brand. I have a very marginal respect for Jonah Hill. Regardless of these two facts, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

Russell Brand reprises his role as Aldous Snow from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a (now) has-been rockstar who's career takes a plummet after releasing his new single, African Child. P. Diddy plays Sergio Roma, a record label CEO who's looking to re-energize the music industry, and Jonah Hill plays Aaron Green an employee who works for Sergio. Aaron's suggestion to Sergio is a ten-year anniversary show of Aldous Snow's multi-platinum record, the one released prior to African child. Aaron then embarks on a mission to get Aldous Snow from London to L.A's Greek theatre in 72 hours. Aldous, however, has other ideas in mind, which include drinking, heroin, sex, "Jeffreys" and reconciling himself with his on-again off-again girlfriend/one true love. Heedless to say, it is one wild ride.

This is not a visual masterpiece by any means, and indeed, i'm sure not a single person in the world really expects a movie of this calibre to be that. What it is, though, is a well written, hilarious look at the life of a rock star. Besides being extremely funny, it is also a rather touching story about a man who has lost his way in life, and another man who discovers that meeting your idol is not exactly what it's cut out to be.

Russell Brand pulls his weight quite well in this movie, being a part of the one-two punch combo that is Aaron Green and Aldous Snow. His humour can only be described as "British": lots of understatement and sarcasm, combined with the flamboyance which is purely trademark Brand.

Jonah Hill is also quite funny in this film although it's unfortunate that he is typecast as the same character that he usually portrays: the slightly awkward fish-out-of-water guy who's hilarious in a sort of maladroit way.

The surprise hit of this film though has to be Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. For a man who's only significant connection to film is the Godzilla soundtrack, P. Diddy unleashes a constant torrent of wit and angry (and hilarious) jibes at Jonah Hill's character, constantly reiterating that Aaron must do whatever it takes to get Aldous to the Greek theatre, and releasing nuggets of comic gold - ("Do you know how many air jordans six black kids wear?!?!").

Overall, Get Him to the Greek is a poignantly funny look at the music industry and the effect that producers and ceo's of companies are having on truly musically talented individuals. If you're feeling like having a good laugh, or are simply a fan of Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, and yes, even P. Diddy, definitely check out this film.