Get Him to the Greek (2010)

Jonah Hill is on a mission to get Russell Brand to the famous Greek Theater. Is the film worth your time?

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Released by Universal Pictures

Release Date: June 4th, 2010

Starring: Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, Rose Byrne, and Sean Combs

Written by Nicholas Stoller

Directed by Nicholas Stoller

Rated R (strong sexual content and drug use throughout, and pervasive language)

What you did was very spiteful, but it was also very brave and very honest and I respect you for doing that. But the content of what you said has made me hate you. So there's a layer of respect, admittedly, for your truthfulness, but it's peppered with hate. Hateful respect. -Aldous Snow

It appears that the Judd Apatow train is leaving the station. The once popular producer who gave us The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up has finally run his course. Don't get me wrong, I like most of the Apatow movies, but the formula was getting old. So were the jokes. This is why Get Him to the Greek surprised me. It has the same dirty jokes and sweetness, but Russell Brand elevates the comedy.

You may remember Brand's character, Aldous Snow, from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. This time Snow is the focus of the movie. He has just released an album called African Child. During the very funny opening, we see how African Child destroys Snow's career. The critics are very harsh, saying that African Child is the worst thing to happen to Africa, behind racism and famine.

As African Child goes down in flames, so does every aspect of Snow's life. His girlfriend Jackie Q (Rose Byrne) leaves him for Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, he loses custody of his son to her, and he falls off of the wagon, after being on it for seven years.

Snow needs a life saver and he finds it in Aaron Green, played by Jonah Hill. Green has the idea of doing an anniversary show of Snow's biggest concert. Green's boss Sergio, played by a very funny Sean "Diddy" Combs, approves the idea and sends Green off to pick up Snow and get him to the Greek theater, for the show, in three days.

All of this is pretty predictable, but we didn't come here for a winning story. We came for laughs and we get them. While the whole movie isn't as funny as many critics claimed it was, there are large portions of the movie that are very funny. There is a scene late in the movie where Snow and Green go to Vegas to visit Snow's dad. This is where the movie is the funniest. The jokes come at a lightning speed and the timing is perfect.

There are a few breakouts here that I think need to be mention. The first being Brand. I know that he has been in other movies and has some big roles on the way, but he kills it here. He is the main reason you should see this movie. He is funny even when he isn't trying to be. Basically, he is one of the few comedians that make it looks easy to be funny.

The other breakout is Diddy, going under his real name of Sean Combs. It doesn't matter what name he uses because he is hysterical in this movie. Diddy has appeared in other movies, usually leaning towards more dramatic work (Monsters Ball), but here he proves that he can handle the comedy just as good as the big shots. In fact, he is funny than Jonah Hill who, for some reason, people think is funny. Had the movie been about Brand and Diddy then this movie would have vied for funniest movie of the year.

Get Him to the Greek really surprised me. The Apatow movies haven't been that great as of late and I feared that this would be one of them. What I found was a very funny and somewhat sweet movie that loses its edge about fifteen minutes before it ends. Up until that point Greek delivers.