Get Him to the Greek

Released June 4, 2010

Directed by Nicholas Stoller

Starring: Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, Sean Combs, Elizabeth Moss, Rose Byrne

First Viewing June 4 2010

Roger – 3.5/5

I love it when I see a comedy that is funnier than I think it will be. So much of our comedy these days is all about drinking and sex jokes with bad language. Which is only funny the first time.

Don’t get me wrong. Get Him to the Greek has this in spades. But it’s also genuinely quite funny, mostly due to the chemistry and acting of Jonah Hill and Russell Brand, who bring their characters depth and emotion while bringing us laugh after laugh.

Brand is in a recurring role as Aldous Snow, the rock star who stole scenes in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Hill is Aaron Green, a music company nobody who is given the task of going to London and retrieving Aldous and flying him back to L.A. for an anniversary concert.

Of course, Aaron is a pretty mild guy, all the more to be a foil to Aldous’ rock star persona and lifestyle. This is nothing new, but these guys are a great pairing on screen, and the hi-jinks that ensue are genuinely funny. Sure, there’s lots of stuff we’ve seen before; drunk shenanigans, drugs, parties, etc. But these two make it fresh and they make it their own. There are some surprisingly sweet moments as a friendship develops, and some good moments with each character’s personal growth. Not to mention the hilarious scenes throughout the course of the movie.

The movie veers off course a little too much when the action strays from the duo and into their relationships with women. It’s sort of awkward, and the movie doesn’t know whether to treat it as a comedy scene or a drama scene, and doesn’t quite hit the right balance.

The rest of the movie strikes the right notes, though, and I laughed pretty hard at some great scenes, one of which involves fuzzy walls. Sean Combs also contributes lots of laughs as the CEO Sergio of Sergio Records. It’s also worth noting that Russell Brand does his own singing, and the songs from “Infant Sorrow,” his act, are co-written with Jason Segel. The tunes are also pretty good, which makes the whole rock star thing believable and the movie that much more enjoyable. Get Him to the Greek is the real thing; an actual funny comedy with just enough heart to make you care about the characters.

Just a side note: Parents/Guardians, please pay attention to the rating. Get Him to the Greek is 18A, and it’s filled with Sex, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll. We sure saw a lot of child-like 18 year olds in the audience, and one sitting near us was constantly talking about the plot.