Get Him to the Greek

Their faces say it all. Get Him to the Greek, starring Jonah Hill

and Russell Brand, is a frighteningly bad movie.

1.5 Stars

I’m generally a fan of anything that comes out of the Judd Apatow troupe of comedy. The 40-Year-Old Virgin was one of the best and most refreshing comedies of the last decade, and Knocked Up, Superbad, and even Funny People are worthy successors. I thought Forgetting Sarah Marshall was pretty weak, however. It just felt like a half-baked effort, and I especially wasn’t fond of Russell Brand’s Aldous Snow character. So I don’t really know why I sat down to watch Get Him to the Greek, a spinoff of Marshall that focused on the obnoxious rock star. Maybe it was obligation. Maybe it was loyalty to the Apatow brand. Or maybe I just thought it would be funny, but if that was the case, I think I need to have my head examined. Not only is this the worst film to come from Apatow and the gang, it’s one of the worst films of 2010 so far.

For those unfamiliar with the character, Get Him to the Greek provides a prologue outlining the ups and downs of Snow’s career. He was one of rock’s biggest names, but after his god-awful single African Child, many of his fans turned against him. His career started and stalled a few times after that, but when he ended things with his longtime girlfriend Jackie Q (Rose Byrne), Snow dropped off the face of the earth.

Our other main character is Aaron Green (Jonah Hill), a wannabe record executive who works for the intimidating and high-strung mogul Sergio Roma (P. Diddy). Roma dispatches Aaron to fly to London, find Snow, and escort him to the famous Greek Theater for a major comeback concert. Pretty much everything you’d expect to go wrong does. Aaron has troubles with his girlfriend (Elisabeth Moss). Aldous parties hard and tries to reunite with Jackie Q. And Sergio has to go in to try to save the day.

Not only is Get Him to the Greek familiar and predictable, it’s also painfully unfunny. P. Diddy is good for a few laughs, but there isn’t another joke that I can remember finding even remotely enjoyable. We’ve got idiotic characters doing idiotic things for idiotic reasons.

I was also put out by the apparent pointlessness of this whole endeavor. Was Aldous Snow a character people were clamoring to see more of? And could they not find anyone else to play Aaron than Jonah Hill? I find Hill quite humorous, but he played a totally different (and equally unfunny character) in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I just didn’t get what the point of anything was. Why tell this story if you’re going to retread everything you’ve ever seen in films like this?

What else is there to say about a movie I disliked so much? I know there are a lot of folks out there who’d recommend this one to you, but I’m not one of them. I wouldn’t recommend this film to anyone. It’s just a train wreck.