Get Him to the Greek is a spin-off sequel to Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Jonah Hill appeared in the original movie as a star struck waiter, but in this film, he plays a new character, Aaron, who works for an ailing record company and pitches an idea to commemorate one of Aldous Snow’s most popular concerts with a tenth anniversary concert. The catch is that Aldous fell off the wagon and is unreliable. Aaron has three days to get Aldous from London to LA. Aaron leaves at the same time that his relationship is at a crossroads so he gets caught up in Aldous’ partying in epic rebound fashion. Will he succeed and destroy his relationship or fail and destroy his career?
Get Him to the Greek is a cross between The Hangover’s energy and This Is Spinal Tap if there were more ordinary characters to compare and contrast with the stars. I actually wasn’t into The Hangover, but a lot of this movie’s humor is predicated on doing dumb things while drunk or high, which normally leaves me cold and silently judging society for the dearth of legal consequences for cinematic and real life illicit drug use for some people while the rate of arrest of black people for possessing marijuana in states where marijuana is legal is still rising. While I still had that thought, it did not spoil my fun like it usually does, and I was able to watch the movie without my arms being crossed the entire time. My favorite scene is when Hill has a bad trip, and Brand tries to help him through it by touching a wall. “It’s Kubrickian!”
Intellectually I know that Get Him to the Greek is not that funny, and yet I laughed out loud. I came for Russell Brand and was not disappointed. For some reason, Brand as a rock star cracks me up. His character is far less likeable and more self-destructive in this movie than his first appearance, but I was still equal parts sympathetic and amused by his depiction. He explains, “I think your brain is full of lollipops and rainbows and cheese and wonder. Mine is slightly darker.” Cheese sells the moment for me. Hill playing the straight man and Brand acting the fool while also being savvy enough to know better tickles my funny bone. It also helped that the viewer had a broader perspective than the characters and was privy to the rest of the world’s reaction to their antics such as when they are having a pillow fight with garbage, and the sanitation men are not amused. Elisabeth Moss as Aaron’s eternally exhausted girlfriend also provides another perspective without falling into spoilsport girlfriend territory. I briefly lost my mind and rooted for her to get up to shenanigans too. This movie gets the I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry award of courage for not being afraid to go there while other movies pull punches when it comes to male same sex kissing because at the end of the day, the filmmakers really do think that it is too gross.
Sean Combs is perfect as the head of the record company. His profane rants and business style is in complete contrast to his family man true self during his off hours. When he joins the revelry, he kicks it up a notch and shows why he is a success. Real talk: I’ve only seen him play other characters in a handful of movies, I’m Still Here, which I hated, but he was the best part of it, and Monster’s Ball, but he is actually a good actor. He generally makes things better by being there, which is the job of every actor. He earns the right to get the best lines, “British motherfuckers don’t die.” True story.
Rose Byrne was unrecognizable as the ex love of Aldous’ life and sexpot pop star. Brand and Byrne credibly seem to exist on a different level of relationship rules than the rest of us until they don’t, but it works. They manage to keep it light and funny until it isn’t supposed to be. Also even though Get Him to the Greek isn’t a parody, their music nails the vapid side of the music industry that sometimes veers into epic bad taste. African Child is so awful and not only could totally be real. Google John Milton’s Congo wedding photos. You don’t have to be a rock star or famous to be tone deaf. They took the wrong lessons from this movie. God help me, but some of those dumb songs were catchy. It helps that they play it with sincerity instead of constantly winking at the audience in a needy way to get laughs. It is funny because it is played straight. They feel like real people, and I found myself rooting for them in the same way that I wanted Michael Jackson to be better.
Get Him to the Greek embodies the intersection between fame and real life and got me invested in the outcome for Aldous as a person, not as an objectified tool to make Aaron’s life better. I’ve been following him through two movies as a person, not his music, so even though the music is ridiculous, because it is autobiographical, I retroactively care about his music because I’m invested in him as a person, but I never get it twisted and care about his music more unlike real life when we can lose perspective. It may be cheesy but by the end of the raucous fest, there is an appreciation of both the man and his music as the credits roll, and I have interior flashbacks of scenes from the movie that inspired the music that followed.
I saw several movies of varying quality, both better and worse, at home on the same day as I saw Get Him to the Greek, but it was the only one that succeeded at helping me get out of my head so I could stop focusing on some devastating news and have a good time. I’m not a comedian. As a viewer, I don’t know why I find certain things funny when one person does it, but not when another does it. I know that my mom, who did not watch the movie, disapproved of the profanity, drug use and sexual situations. I would totally watch a third movie about Aldous Snow. I’m rooting for him.