Rated R for Strong Sexual Content and Drug Use Through Out, and Pervasive Language
Starring: Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, Sean Combs, Rose Byrne
Writer/Director: Nicholas Stoller
Running Time: 109 Minutes
I love being surprised, and for a man who watches movies as much as I do, that is a little hard to come by. With enough films under your belt, you begin to be able to tell when a movie is going to be good or bad based on little information. Back in March, I posted the red band trailer for Get Him to the Greek and although I was attempting to remain an optimist, I was fully expecting this movie to suck. This movie is one of these rare surprises; Get Him to the Greek is a great movie with some excellent performances and absolutely hilarious moments, far more than I expected there to be.
Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) works for a major record label in Los Angeles run by mogul Sergio (Sean Combs). The label has been losing money, and Sergio is trying to get some ideas from his workers to drive up revenue. After some failed ideas, Sergio calls on Aaron, who suggests holding an Infant Sorrow concert on the ten year anniversary of their landmark performance at the Greek Theater in L.A. Sergio is initally resistant, but relents and charges Aaron with going to London and bringing Infant Sorrow front man Aldous Snow (Russell Brand, reprising his role from Forgetting Sarah Marshall) first to New York for a performance on the Today Show then back to L.A. for the concert. The catch? He only has three days to do this.
Aaron is psyched for this; not only is it his dream to hang out with Snow since he is a big Infant Sorrow fan, but it’s his chance to get away from his mundane life with nurse girlfriend Daphne (Elizabeth Moss), who’d rather stay in and watch Gossip Girl than party. However, this task is not as easy as Aaron thinks it’ll be. In the past few years, Snow has fallen off the sobriety wagon and has become a self-destructive shell of his former self, doing drugs and pining for his ex-girlfriend, the singer Jackie Q (Rose Byrne) who is now shacking up with Lars Ulrich (Himself). Aaron is now tasked with not only bringing Snow to the Greek on time, but with babysitting him and keeping him from ruining everything.
Get Him to the Greek is essentially two movies; first, it is the vulgar comedy you were expecting with some hilarious jokes and scenes. Jonah Hill and Russell Brand not only have a handle on their characters, but have tremendous chemistry together and their dynamic results in both hilarious and surprisingly touching moments. Hill is more the straight man of the two, but he gets just as many laughs as Brand does, who has amped up the ridiculous of the Aldous Snow character to 11. The biggest surprise of the whole movie is Sean Combs. Say what you will about his accomplishments in the music business, but this guy has some comedic chops to him. Sergio is a hot headed and vulgar man and he really breaks out in this movie. The whole scene in Las Vegas, featuring Hill, Brand, and Combs getting high off a drug concoction known as a “Jeffery” is possibly the funniest ten minutes I have seen this year. Combs especially steals this whole scene, and the picture above is just part of the madness. I never thought I’d say this, but I want to see Sean Combs in more comedies, this guy has some good potential.
Get Him to the Greek, like with many comedies Judd Apatow attaches his name to, also has a darker serious side to it. The character of Aldous Snow is haunted; he has incredible daddy issues as well as usual musician quirks (which seem to be a commentary on musicians, but I don’t watch movies for sub-text) and even though he can be a real asshole, he is ultimately a tragic figure. He is at his core an unhappy and self-destructive person, and Russell Brand nails this out of the park. I didn’t expect to actually be interested in the Aldous Snow character, but there are some real legitimate layers to it and Brand not only delivers on the funny, he manages to also nail the more dramatic scenes. All my skepticism is lost; Brand may be a one note character, but he does it so well. I doubt he’ll ever really play anything other than Aldous Snow-types, but I think if that kind of character is the basis for a more serious movie, he could do it and do it well.
Sadly, the drama side of Get Him to the Greek also happens to be its downfall. The tonal shifts make it feel like a movie that wants to be too much. People want a straight up comedy, and adding drama is fine, but it goes on for a little too long and takes a little air out of the movie’s sails. If they had cut down more of the drama side and stuck more with the comedy, Get Him to the Greek would have worked much better.
Also, some of the humor doesn’t seem to work and there are a couple of running gags (involving Daphne’s obsession with sleep and other things I can’t remember which isn’t a good sign) that just fail time and time again. The editing of the film is also a little suspect; some of the scenes go on for far too long as the characters riff on each other and tell jokes back to back. The scene when Sergio gives Aaron the assignment feels three minutes too long, as they just barb back and forth. It’s funny and everything, but it didn’t need to keep going for as long as it did.
Gripes aside, I was pleasantly surprised by Get Him to the Greek. Considering it was a spin-off to a movie that didn’t need one whatsoever, it manages to have its own identity and add layers to a one note joke character that makes him more human and more three dimensional. The excellent performances by Hill and Brand, and a breakout role for Combs, keep the movie afloat even when it delves too far into the dramatic territory. Get Him to the Greek is a movie worth your attention.
It’s rare that I see a trailer for a comedy and think it might actually be funny but this film actually looks like it has some good laughs… and I don’t like Russell Brand!
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I don’t like Russell Brand either, but the trailer was pretty damn funny. I just listened to the Mad Hatters podcast and he and Alex accidentally talked me out of wanting to see it, but Jon may have inspired me to second guess myself here.
I say definitely check it out. With a dearth of unfunny-looking “comedies” coming out this summer (Grown Ups? REALLY?), this may be this year’s “Hangover” by default.
Jonah Hill and Elizabeth Moss……hmmmm, that could be, if not a realistic, at least a more realistic couple.
I was enraged with Jonah Hill and Emma Stone — gggggrrrrrrrr ahhhhrgh! — and Rogen and Heigl —arrrrrrrgggghhhhhhh grrrah ack!
We truly need a film where Apatow puts together a realistic fat guy couple together. Like Jonah Hill and the chick that’s the stalker on Conchords or Rogen and the guy that play’s Sarah’s sister’s boyfriend on Sarah Silverman.
Yeah, that’d be a good one.
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Frankly, I thought Rogen and Heigl were incredibly realistic as a couple. It’s pretty easy to see how she ends up falling for him, even though he’s not some perfect physical specimen. And I really mean that; he’s completely out of shape and unkempt throughout that entire movie, and there’s no doubt that Heigl is completely out of his league. But that’s neither here nor there.
Greek really works, and for me might be funnier than Sarah Marshall if lacking in the same heart. Not that Greek doesn’t have any heart, it just doesn’t hit those same levels. And coming away from the movie, the relationship between Moss and Hill feels almost perfunctory in the way that it’s introduced, broken up, kept at arm’s length from the audience and the characters, and then resolved with a turbulent and rushed kind of energy. It doesn’t sink the movie or even mar it that much, though, because Greek is so primarily driven by its comedy beats rather than by its plot. Not a bad way to start June at all, I’d say.
It’s realistic even more in a sense that since Rogen’s character can’t do any better, he’ll settle for a shrew like Heigl.
Oh come on, she was not a shrew but then again Apatow does not know how to write for women.
I feel sorry for that poor girl. She’s so pretty and she always gets paired up with a shlub–Rogen, the gay guy from Grey’s Anatomy–and then, in her couple of other roles she’s the poor girl that never got married or the poor girl that Chuckie tried to kill.
I guess she just has that “dumped on” look
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Love that comment (even though she was paired with Justin Chambers in Grey’s Anatomy…who’s no slouch)
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There is a double standard out there. Even when they do the female “ugly duckling” they always end up making her hot by the end so the guy can see what she “really” looks like. As we all know, this is my biggest film pet peeve, and unfortunately more films than not are guilty of it.
Obviously any brunette with glasses and a pony tail SHOULD feel bad about herself (the nerve!). Thank god for football QB’s that can see passed that ugly nerdiness into the true, sexy blond that she has on the inside.
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I always found the “ugly duckling” way more attractive than the made over version, but that’s just me I guess.
Looking forward to this one. I think it might swing the tide in what has been – up to now – a disappointing summer.
Because I don’t want to have to wait until Inception in July.
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This is not going to swing it, but it’s a good start. It has been a pretty sad summer so-far, but I’m hoping A-Team starts the awesomeness. I want to be wowed dammit!
Yep. And I don’t want to have to wait until July, either, dammit!
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P. Diddy got jokes. Didn’t see that one coming, but now I can’t get the image of his d**k mindf**king Jonah Hill’s brain out of my mind.
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His whole “Jeffery” scene is going to live on in great comedy moments. At least for me.
Really, I don’t think I’d find this funny and the fact that Diddy is one of the main draws is a bit worrying. Still, who knows maybe I’ll see it eventually.
This looks kinda muck from the trailers, but I try not to hold that against films any more.
This film isnt out yet in Ireland, supposed to be interviewing Brand and Hill next week, what should I ask them?
I suppose I’ll get around to watching this one day and I may just have to trust that Jon could become my go to reviewer for comedies.
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In the case, you might wanna get started watching The Love Guru