Forgetting Jackie Q
Watching "Get Him to the Greek" reminds me of when I watch an Adam Sandler movie I raved about on release, it's not that good. I suppose what I mean is that it is an age thing because the days when I thought Adam Sandler movies were hilarious were my teens and early twenties where now I find them bordering on the moronic. Now I wouldn't say that "Get Him to the Greek" is moronic, there are some truly funny moments in this chaotic comedy but it so often relies on base humour such as one expletive after another which once would have made me laugh but now leaves me bored. But then there is no denying that both Russell Brand and Jonah Hill lead the movie quite brilliantly doing a great job of delivering the sex and drug comedy for those who find it funny.
With the record label he works for in trouble Aaron Green (Jonah Hill - Cyrus) suggests they get Aldous Snow (Russell Brand - Forgetting Sarah Marshall) to perform in a 10th anniversary gig. The trouble is that Aldous is going through a rocky patch, his last single "African Child" bombed, his relationship to Jackie Q (Rose Byrne) has failed and he has fallen off the wagon. With only 72 hours to pick Aldous up from London and get him to the gig in L.A. Aaron has a tough job especially as Aldous is determined to get him drunk, stoned and laid.
So what we basically have in "Get Him to the Greek" after a short build up which establishes that Aldous is on the slide and Aaron's relationship with his girlfriend is troubled is 72 hours of chaos. That chaos consists of drinking, drug taking, getting laid going from one place to another, from bar to club, country to country and state to state where poor old Aaron has to try and control Aldous. That pretty much is all there is to "Get Him to the Greek", oh you could say that we get to the bottom of what causes Aldous to be so self destructive and also Aaron and his girlfriends relationship but to be honest this isn't a movie about depth.
What that means is that "Get Him to the Greek" is all about the comedy, all about watching Aaron run ragged as Aldous gets him drunk, smokes a joint, stuffs drugs up his butt and a lot more. As already mentioned once upon a time I would have thought it was hilarious where as now only sporadically funny because swearing to be funny is only funny when done in moderation rather than every other word. But there are some clever moments, Sean Combs as Aaron's boss Sergio doing the Carlton from "The Fresh Prince" is genuinely hilarious as is the whole set up of Aldous's failed single "African Child". But these were moments, the occasional funny scene in a movie which seemed far too often going for the cheap laughs.
But whilst the humour didn't always work for me the performances did and whilst I find Russell Brand an acquired taste he is perfect as egotistical and maniacal rocker Aldous Snow. Who better to mix obnoxious with sleazy and make it strangely funny as he makes some form of sexually suggestive comment. And Brand works well with Jonah Hill who through the magic of cinema plays a different character to the one in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". In fact Hill is good as the harassed Aaron giving it a touch of the awkward but not to the point it over whelms his character.
What this all boils down to is that "Get Him to the Greek" would once have had me in hysterics but those days are gone and sadly it didn't really do it for me. There are some genuinely funny moments in the movie and both Russell Brand and Jonah Hill play their parts well but the majority of the humour left me unimpressed.
