Get Him to the Greek (June 4, 2010): R
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Opening Weekend Box-Office: #2 (Behind Shrek Forever After): $17,570,955
Domestic Box-Office Gross to-date: $60,974,475
Gross Revenue: $82,133,987
Budget: $40 million
Director: Nicholas Stoller
As I was mapping out my summer movie list, Get Him to the Greek was not a priority. I enjoyed Forgetting Sarah Marshall (of which Greek is actually a spin-off), but I didn’t consider Russell Brand the strongest point of that film. The other part of my decision involved the fact that I had grown a little tired of Jonah Hill…yes, we know you’re sassy and cynical, but that gets old eventually. I had seen the previews and watched Brand and Hill promote the film on Comedy Central; I was even amused by Brand performing with his band from the film (Infant Sorrow) as a form of promotion, but I wasn’t sold. My dramatic decision reversal came about when I decided to watch Russell Brand do stand-up on Comedy Central…I had not laughed that hard in a long time. With a new appreciation of Brand’s comedic talent, I decided to give his newest film a chance. In retrospect, I’m glad to say that I made the right decision.
The trailers for the film were very straightforward about the plot. Hill plays Aaron Green, a young record company intern who must escort wild musician Aldous Snow (Brand) to Los Angeles’ Greek Theater for a reunion concert…needless to say, there’s plenty of room for comedic misadventure. Get Him to the Greek more than delivers on humor, Brand and Hill are an excellent comedic team, and many of Hill’s qualities that have made him tiresome in the past have been toned-down. However, the real surprise is Sean “Diddy” Combs, who plays Sergio Roma, record company executive and Green’s boss. Diddy steals almost every scene he is in, and is nothing short of hysterical…his presence only makes the comedic chemistry between Brand and Hill that much stronger. Another strong source of comedy comes from the large number of music and movie celebrity cameos, such as Christina Aguilera and P!nk. My two personal favorite cameos were Tom Felton (who plays Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films…a fact that Hill uses as an obvious source of humor) and Kristen Bell, who cameos as Sarah Marshall, her title character from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Despite the strong comedic value present, the film is not perfect. My main criticism is that Get Him to the Greek seems to be trying a little too hard to bring heart to its characters. We all remember how 2007’s Knocked-Up dramatically shifted from raunchy-comedy to chick-flick, but the key difference here is that where Knocked-Up made the shift to dramatic and stayed there, Greek’s emotional transitions are too erratic. Aldous Snow is the stereotypical wild and out-of-control rock star, but there are numerous attempts to portray him as a more sympathetic character, one searching for family or battling loneliness, but as soon as the audience starts to sympathize with him, they are hit with a raunchy joke or situation, and forget about Aldous’ emotional problems. The erratic tone is a little unnecessary, because Aldous Snow is a likable enough character without trying to give him more emotional depth. Another small criticism is that some of the funny clips seen in the trailers are completely absent from the film…this is nothing to crucify the film over, but trailers are the main motivators to see a film, and if those scenes you liked are absent in the final product, I could see some moviegoers being disappointed.
Greek is being promoted as the funniest film since The Hangover, and for the large part, that is true. In a summer full of action and family films, Get Him to the Greek stands alone as an adult comedy, as it more than earns its R-rating with drug and sex jokes…Adam Sandler’s Grown-Ups seems tailored to families and can only be so funny with a PG-13 rating. Simply put, despite lukewarm box-office performance, Get Him to the Greek is the strongest comedy we will see all summer, don’t miss it.
Overall Recommendation: Very High
Coming Soon: The Karate Kid and The A-Team
