MOVIE OF THE WEEK #1: GET HIM TO THE GREEK
KEY CAST MEMBERS: Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, Elisabeth Moss, Rose Byrne, Colm Meaney and Sean "Diddy" Combs
WRITER: Nicholas Stoller
DIRECTOR: Nicholas Stoller
WEB SITE: http://www.gethimtothegreek.net
THE PLOT: The unofficial follow-up to 2008's Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to The Greek reunites Jonah Hill and Russell Brand in a new situation that sort of picks up where we last saw Brand's sex-crazed, drug-addled rock star Aldous Snow.
Following the release of a terrible single - "African Child" and album of the same name, Aldous finds himself at a career crossroads. Worse yet, his on-again, off-again pop star in her own right girlfriend "Jackie Q" (Rose Byrne) is enjoying hit after hit - except the ones they used to share together since they are now both 7 years sober. So you know what that means - a big blowup fight, a single, sinking Aldous and plenty of boozing, drinking and doing whatever the hell else you would expect from a rock star in his position.
While Aldous stumbles his way around his native England, Pinnacle Records intern Aaron Green (Hill) is facing problems of his own. His would-be doctor girlfriend Daphne (Elisabeth Moss) is pressing him about a major move so she can advance her career - and his Pinnacle Records boss Sergio (Sean "Diddy" Combs) wants a hit NOW to revive the label's sagging sales.
And that's when Aaron has an idea that could change the company's - and his own - fate: Have Aldous Snow, his favorite rock artist of all time, perform a show at L.A.'s Greek Theater on the 10th anniversary of the concert (and subsequent live album it produced) that made him a legend in the first place.
Segio signs off on the idea, giving Aaron one simple warning: No matter what you do, get Aldous to the Greek, which turns out to be a much, MUCH harder task that Aaron ever imagined . . .
THE TAKE: Get Him to the Greek is not without its flaws. For one, the story makes sense more in theory than it does sometimes in execution as certain scenes feel weirdly edited, there are takes that meander on a bit too long and the scenes with Aldous' father (Colm Meaney) could have been a lot better and added a lot more to the movie.
Those three things notwithstanding, Greek succeeds more often than not in doing the one thing it sets out to do - and that's make you laugh. I know that I might not seem that credible given that I am a longstanding hip-hop fan (I have never bought any of the man's solo CDs if that helps), but Sean Combs - a.k.a. Diddy - absolutely STEALS the movie in every scene he's in much like Brand did in the aforementioned Marshall. With a performance that is on par with Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder (both in character and execution), if you were to take Diddy out of this movie, the entertainment value would instantly go down instantly by at least 50 percent - and that's a testament to how good he is in terms of his comic timing, his sense of knowing his character (which given his day job shouldn't be much of a stretch!) and ability to work a scene.
There's really not much else to say about Greek other than that the music snaps and pops South Park style in terms of its humorous lyrics, Brand is capable at portraying Aldous for an extended period of time. While we have yet to see him do anything else character-wise a'la Michael Cera, he is quite good at making Aldous seem like a real rock artist and not just a parody of one, which of course he is. Hill likewise is competent as playing the affable schlub that is Aaron, playing the straight man much like Cera did in their breakthrough vehicle, 2007's Superbad. While many of the jokes don't break new ground, they are funny and in the end, that's what matters more often than not.
This is one time saying "it's all Greek to me" isn't a bad thing, indeed.
RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):
No, your eyes are not deceiving you ... I FINALLY got around to making half-buckets!
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