Movie Review: ‘Get Him to the Greek’

This sort of semi sequel/spin-off from 2007’s entertaining Forgetting Sarah Marshall takes the most successful aspect of that Apatow produced comedy and gives that most polarising of people, Russell Brand, a big budget Apatow produced vehicle of his own.

Get Him to the Greek is the self explanatory plot condensing title of this hectic sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll romp through 72 hours of crazed debauchery. Jonah Hill, another of the FSM cast, here embodies a completely different character with Aaron Green, an unassuming music promoter that’s given his big chance by expletive spouting record producer, Sergio (Sean Combs). His task; to get alcohol fueled, fallen idol Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) to the Greek Theatre so that he can perform a money spinning, career reviving, 10th anniversary show with his band, Infant Sorrow. The only things stopping him are heroin smuggling, his first taste of absinthe, and an East End narcissist with the attention span of a child and the libido of a rabbit.

GHTTK will take some patience to win over its doubters. The initial set-up is really quite terrible as we are presented with an E Entertainment style background into the turbulent life of our drug-addled rocker, that features the video to his flop single African Child, and some TMZ style footage that conforms to all the things people tend to dislike about the tabloid baiting Brand.

It’s the script’s teaming up of Hill and Brand that lights the comedy touch paper here, even the music improves with the catchy number We Got the Clap, once the two are on the road. Jonah Hill is always watchable; here he is happy to take a back seat to Brand’s showy antics, so he gets the vomit on his top on numerous occasions as the straight man. While Brand exaggerates his familiar mannerisms, he is at his eloquently funny best when allowed to slip into his successful stand-up mode. Both are respectively excellent.