Get Him To The Greek
Written and Directed By: Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Russell Brand, Jonah Hill and P Diddy
Get Him To The Greek is a semi spin off from the 2008 comedy film Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It takes Aldous Snow the rock star played by Russell Brand (who was the standout in that film) and gives him his own vehicle alongside Jonah Hill. The plot revolves around Jonah Hill who works for a record company craving ideas, his suggestion is to get Aldous Snow and have him play a 10-year anniversary concert of one of his concerts at the Greek theatre. When he is tasked with taking Snow to the concert however, he realizes that it is much harder than he first thought.
On the face of it Get Him To The Greek should be funny it has a good premise as well as two gems of comedy in Russell Brand and Jonah Hill, so why is the film lacking in laughs? It seems the blame must fall at the hands of Nicholas Stoller whose script fills the film with unnecessary, stupid, inappropriate, unfunny and over the top humour none of which ever obtains the laugh out loud feeling that the film should be generating.
Get Him To The Greek seems to stuff the film with crude gags just for the sake of it going on pointless tangents only to deliver a cheap gag. One cannot help but think at the end of the film that two comic talents have been wasted, however there is some stuff in Get Him To The Greek that does work really well. Mainly the chemistry between Brand and Hill is the heart of the film and even though both are dealing with material below their standards they both give decent performances making both character likable and actually both handle the dramatic elements of the story rather well. However Get Him To The Greek could do with a little less drama, focus more on the comedy and being much shorter as the film goes on much longer than it needs to. Another aspect that works well is the jokes about the music industry most notably the jokes about “African Child” (something you will have to see the film to get) and the songs that Snow sings such as “Bangers, Beans and Mash” and one of the films best jokes in “Furry Walls”
Much has been made of the role P Diddy plays, which while providing some mildly amusing moments at best, is rather a statement of the humour of the whole film over the top and unnecessarily crude.
Overall Get Him To The Greek is carried through its length and rather poor humour by the performances and charm of its two leads as well as providing some decent spoof songs and gags along the way that don’t make it a completely wasted experience and a decent film even if it is a missed opportunity.
One Sentence Summary: Jonah Hill and Russell Brand do well in a film that is ultimately ill disciplined and longer than it should be.
6/10
By Michael Dalton
On the face of it Get Him To The Greek should be funny it has a good premise as well as two gems of comedy in Russell Brand and Jonah Hill, so why is the film lacking in laughs? It seems the blame must fall at the hands of Nicholas Stoller whose script fills the film with unnecessary, stupid, inappropriate, unfunny and over the top humour none of which ever obtains the laugh out loud feeling that the film should be generating.
Get Him To The Greek seems to stuff the film with crude gags just for the sake of it going on pointless tangents only to deliver a cheap gag. One cannot help but think at the end of the film that two comic talents have been wasted, however there is some stuff in Get Him To The Greek that does work really well. Mainly the chemistry between Brand and Hill is the heart of the film and even though both are dealing with material below their standards they both give decent performances making both character likable and actually both handle the dramatic elements of the story rather well. However Get Him To The Greek could do with a little less drama, focus more on the comedy and being much shorter as the film goes on much longer than it needs to. Another aspect that works well is the jokes about the music industry most notably the jokes about “African Child” (something you will have to see the film to get) and the songs that Snow sings such as “Bangers, Beans and Mash” and one of the films best jokes in “Furry Walls”
Much has been made of the role P Diddy plays, which while providing some mildly amusing moments at best, is rather a statement of the humour of the whole film over the top and unnecessarily crude.
Overall Get Him To The Greek is carried through its length and rather poor humour by the performances and charm of its two leads as well as providing some decent spoof songs and gags along the way that don’t make it a completely wasted experience and a decent film even if it is a missed opportunity.
One Sentence Summary: Jonah Hill and Russell Brand do well in a film that is ultimately ill disciplined and longer than it should be.
6/10
By Michael Dalton
This trailer was taken from:
“Get Him to the Greek” Trailer (Video). February 18, 2010. Retrieved July 23, 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6ixkr0-qvo
“Get Him to the Greek” Trailer (Video). February 18, 2010. Retrieved July 23, 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6ixkr0-qvo
