I wrote the following review after an early test screening in January. Much of the film may have been changed since seeing it. GET HIM TO THE GREEK is essentially Brand’s spin off of his character from “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” which was a film I liked a lot, despite some of its pacing issues. Though I’m sure this early, nearly 2 hour cut will be trimmed down before its release, pacing is once again a problem this time around, and unfortunately there aren’t enough laughs in the film to strike a good balance.
Brand returns as rock star Aldous Snow, and as the film opens he is coming off a flop of a new album called “African Child.” Much like the music video featured in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” the “African Child” music video is full of clichés and spoofs celebrities pretending to care about tragedy and genocide in foreign countries. While amusing, the video and following introduction to Aldous’ current situation seem like a lost extra from the “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” DVD. It hardly seems like a springboard for a whole new film.
Jonah Hill, playing music promoter Aaron, is thankfully a different character from the one he played in “Sarah Marshall.” He has the brilliant idea to jump-start Snow’s career again by staging an anniversary concert of his famous performance at the Greek theatre in LA. All he has to do is get the drug-addled, alcoholic, crazy rock star from London to Los Angeles. You can guess what follows. How many times do you think Hill’s character vomits? I lost track but I’m pretty sure it was at least four. Oh. But one of those times was off camera. Does that count?
There aren’t many surprises or variety in this film. Basically the story can be mapped out as the two heroes party in London, barely make it to New York, party in New York, barely make it to Las Vegas, party in Vegas, party in L.A., and learn valuable lessons about friendship, drug abuse, etc. However this rock and roll lifestyle never seems as crazy, chaotic, and comedic as the film wants it to be. Even when hotel rooms catch on fire and groupies rip their shirts off, it’s all very tame and calm. For all the implied heavy drugs that he takes, (heroin, opium, etc.) Brand never plays Snow with any more energy or mania than he did in the last film and the situations never reflect the danger and risk that he is taking, aside for a brief moment at the end. I don’t know if making the film raunchier would have helped, but I think that the interplay between Brand and Hill would have been funnier if they were a little more mismatched. Brand should have been over the top and big and Hill should have been more restrained and shy. Or how about the other way around? Brand always acting nonplused by the wild events around him and Hill overreacting manically. Neither of these conventions are original, but they would have been more interesting than what we got, which was both actors hovering somewhere in the middle. Both occasionally look like they’d rather not be in their own movie.
Neither Brand nor Hill seem quite ready yet to be leading men or to carry a film themselves, but of the two, Hill fares a bit better. He’s quite funny at times and even pretty charming. His scenes with Elizabeth Moss, who gives a funny and sweet performance as Hill’s girlfriend, are some of the best in the film. I think I might have liked to have seen a whole film about the two of them, and leave Aldous Snow out of it. There are a few surprise cameos and familiar faces in supporting roles, but they never amount to much. Each time someone like Aziz Ansari, Nick Kroll, or Kristen Schaal came onscreen, the audience made a tiny noise of recognition, but no laughter followed when said actors were given nothing to work with. There’s even a brief cameo by Kristen Bell, reprising her role as Sarah Marshall, but I was most disappointed not to see Jason Segel pop up.
Rose Byrne and the great Colm Meaney have small roles, providing the emotional core and conflict in Aldous’ storyline, but once they’re brought in, not much is done with their characters. Meaney is supposed to be the estranged father who Snow could never impress, but when he goes to visit him in Vegas, the subject of their displeasure of one another is barely addressed. Byrne is kind of fun and sexy, playing against type, but it feels like her character should have been a larger part of the story, considering all that is set up for her in the beginning.
Clearly what this film (and its inevitable marketing campaign) is going to be built around is the supporting performance by Sean “P. Diddy” Combs. This is more than just a cameo. He pops up frequently and is fairly essential to the plot. He’s not bad. Gets a few big laughs. Some of those laughs only come from the oddity of watching P. Diddy do silly things. He’s amusing, but by no means does he ever steal the movie. I can’t see this film being a big hit, but what success it receives will probably be based on people’s desire to see his performance.
This isn’t a bad film, but it doesn’t feel like a theatrical event. I can’t believe this is going to be released in the competitive summer. Feels more like a January release, or better yet, the kind of movie you find on cable at 1:00 AM and are just entertained enough by that you stay up to finish it. It’s possible that it can still be improved upon. After seeing the trailer premier a few days ago, I noticed several scenes featured in it that weren’t in the cut I saw. They probably have a lot of material to work with. I still think Jonah Hill is incredibly talented and he deserves a better shot at being a leading man. I’m hoping that his work in “Cyrus” gives him a better opportunity to impress. While Russell Brand is pretty one note, after reading his book I’m quite fascinated by him and I’d be curious to see him in a project that isn’t just building on his own image. Maybe his attempt at Shakespeare in “The Tempest” will be a step forward. This is more like a jump in the air. You can see he’s got talent but at the end of the film, he’s right back where he started.
-Johnny Pomatto
