Hill and Brand re-team with their Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller in Get Him to the Greek, a film that will draw comparisons to 2009’s The Hangover. With some substance to the storyline behind the drug and alcohol-based humour and gross-out gags, the film mixes themes of friendship and loyalty with genuine comedy in this Judd Apatow produced movie, in theatres June 4, 2010.
Get Him to the Greek Plot
Reprising his Forgetting Sarah Marshall character, Aldous Snow, lead singer of washed up band Infant Sorrow, Brand is the wayward rockstar, lost to a world of drugs and yes men assuring him of his every move and coddling him like a child. Enter superfan Aaron, an upstart young underling of a record company exec who is charged with getting his idol Snow from London, England to various PR appearances en route to an anniversary gig at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in 72 hours. It is a test for both men- one trying to regain his fame and another trying to make a name for himself in the music biz.
Like The Hangover, Get Him to the Greek puts a regular guy in an extraordinary situation, rife with comic mishaps, drunken bravado, and toilet humour. Aaron is out of his element, having a hard time taming the wild rock star. In between the raunchy humour and crudeness, a story of male friendship and bonding develops, especially in the latter half of the film.
Themes of Friendship and Male Bonding
On the course of this journey, Aaron and Aldous form an unlikely friendship, but still remain true to character as a believable and organic bond between them develops. It would have been easy for Stoller, who also wrote the script, to turn these two into over-the-top caricatures of the rock star and fan boy. Instead, both are painted as human figures, with depth and the desire to achieve a routine lifestyle. The characters are realistic and likeable, and despite all of the film’s excesses, a plausible and genuine comedy emerges.
Hill’s Aaron is a likeable Average Joe, terrified to disappoint his record mogul boss Sergio, played by Sean “P. Diddy” Combs in a standout turn. Sergio is at once the feared boss, reducing underlings to anxiety attacks, as well as a father figure who guides and nurtures his employee in the fine art of placating rock stars. Combs is a scene stealer, popping up just often enough to motivate the road trip from London to LA and to balance out the film from becoming a Russell Brand vanity project.
Russell Brand and Jonah Hill Star in Get Him to the Greek
As Aldous Snow, the self-proclaimed “White Jesus” Brand is comical and genuine, brash and caring. It is debatable whether the character of Aldous Snow genuinely deserved a full-fledged film, as, like the comedy of Russell Brand, it is often better in small does as seen in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The tongue-in-cheek humour of his commercial flop “African Child” album, paints Snow as an excessive and self-righteous rock god, living in excess and greed as the audience is introduced to him at the beginning of the film. Through the course of the road trip, Snow becomes more than just the self-indulgent rockstar and develops into a loving father, pining for his former lover Jackie Q (Rose Byrne).
Snow advises Aaron on his own relationship woes with his live-in doctor girlfriend Daphne (Elizabeth Moss), further entrenching the buddy theme. Jonah Hill is on his way to becoming a mainstream, likeable comedy actor. The sincerity he imbues in Aaron is echoed throughout the film, where the somewhat soft ending still seems entirely plausible.
With more staying power than Infant Sorrow’s last album, Get Him to the Greek will provide laughs and genuinely entertain its audience.
3 out of 4 stars.
Rachel West - Rachel resides in Toronto, Ontario and works as an Online Merchandiser for Entertainment, writing about the latest DVDs and CDs for a high ...
