Get Him To The Greek

Get Him To The Greek (2010) – Rated R for strong sexual content and drug use throughout, and pervasive language.

When surprise hit Forgetting Sarah Marshall made its debut in 2008, Russell Brand managed to turn his bit role of Aldous Snow into one of the more memorable characters in the film.  So naturally director Nicholas Stoller wrote a follow-up for Brand and the result is Get Him To The Greek.  And if Jason Segel’s exposed man-parts shocked you in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, then this comedy will blow your mind.  It manages to be more crude and raunchy, while still being hilarious.  And, if it’s even possible to say this, Sean “P.Diddy” Combs almost manages to steal the show from Brand’s Aldous Snow as Sergio Roma.

In the film Aldous Snow has hit his peak and begun his slow descent into obscurity, as what happens to most rock stars eventually.  But Jonah Hill’s Aaron Green convinces his boss (Sergio) to throw a ten-year reunion for Snow’s band, Infant Sorrow, at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles.  He then has the responsibility of bringing Snow from London to LA within three days, and hilarity ensues.  There’s even a small cameo by Kristen Bell as Sarah Marshall that was really funny.  On a side note, Rick Schroder, where have you been all these years?  The dialogue was really witty and was where most of the laughs came from.  It was refreshing to have a wild roller coaster of vulgar hilarity spewing from every character.  And I mean EVERY character.  The performances were good, too.  But Aldous Snow began to feel like a non-pirate version of Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow towards the end.  And, Combs turned in a wildly hilarious performance.  He pretty much owns every scene that he’s in.  Even the scenes he shares with Russell Brand.  His dialogue about mind-f*cking was memorable and I’m betting it’ll be what makes this the “quotable film” of the summer.

The story starts off strong and then begins to taper into “this movie is way too long” territory towards the end.  There’s a moment about two-thirds into the film that completely changes the tone of the film from hilarious to dark and serious.  It is at this moment that the film should have ended.  And there’s also an unnecessary threesome scene that came out from left field and felt detached from the rest of the story.  But this film is really funny and will make audiences laugh out loud.  Now I really want to see a feature-length version of the Dracula puppet musical that was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  Jason Segel, please make this happen.  Please?  Filmtastic review = 4 stars.