Get him to the Greek - Movie Review

This is another film with Aldous Snow, a rockstar character as played by the British Comedian Russell Brand. If you liked Aldous Snow before, and if you love Russell Brand, you will love this comedy too. Aldous Snow first appeared in the comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Director Nicholas Stoller filled Get him to the Greek with British humour and foul jokes. P. Diddy (or P. Daddy, or Puff Daddy or Sean Combs, or by whatever name he goes at the moment) and Jonah Hill came to assist Brand and make this film even better.

The film starts with Aaron Green (Jonah Hill), who is trying to make a career in the music industry. He works as a big record label, owned by Sergio (P. Diddy). Aaron proposes to bring back an old rockstar legend, and to let him play an anniversary concert, as a way to bring in a lot of money for the record label company. Sergio agrees, and sends Aaron to London to go and pick up Aldous Snow, and to make sure he makes it to an interview and to the concert on time. The concert is in Los Angeles in a concert stadium called The Greek (explaining the name of the film). But Aldous is a rockstar fallen from grace. He is now an addict, and a party animal, prone to scandals, and obsessed with drugs, so getting him to the Greek is not an easy task. We see Aaron, who is a quiet and good guy, try to keep up with Aldous Snows partying ways, meanwhile trying to get him to where he is supposed to go. From here on out there is a lot of foul language, and drugs, s*x and rock ‘n roll.

The film is quite funny, but the jokes are sort of the same all throughout the film. Russell Brand’s British accent is funny, and sexy, but the vague way in which he talks gets a little boring in the end. Jonah Hill is cute and huggable, and he totally escalates throughout the film. But after he is throwing up for the tenth time, it just isn’t as funny anymore. The tall and skinny Brand and the small and chubby Hill make for a nice contrast and a good team though, and play off each other very well. And then there is Rose Byrne, who plays Aldous’ ex-girlfriend Jackie Q. She is great, especially in the opening scenes, where she is a background model and dancer in Aldous’ videoclip African Child. I never would have guessed P. Diddy actually has a comedic talent, but he effortlessly turns himself into a stereo type, and does not take himself to seriously. I think he actually was one of my favourite characters in this film.

The film is really really funny, but I think it is too long. Several of the jokes get repeated a few times, in a slightly different way. All the actors are great, but it is just a little too much. One of my favourite bits is when Aldous Snow ends the film in a little theatre doing stand-up comedy. This is where Russell Brand is at his best. That said, you should definitely buy this film, as it is very entertaining!