Get Him to the Greek (Movie Review)

Movie Review
Get Him to the Greek
2010
Starring: Jonah Hill, Russell Brand
Directed by: Nicholas Stoller

If there’s one word that could perfectly describe Get Him to the Greek, it would be harmless. Nicholas Stoller’s comedy isn’t all that funny and has too many scenes in the film that should have been left on the cutting room floor but it’s not a movie that will frustrate you for having watched it. Some people my find the humour appealing and that’s all well and good for them. Judd Apatow-produced movies have their audience. However, this movie feels tired and that everyone involved is just going through the motions. We’ve seem to have hit that point where if you’ve seen one Apatow movie, you’ve seen them all.

The music industry is struggling and people are desperately searching for the next big thing. Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) of Pinnacle Records suggests to his boss Sergio Roma (Sean “Diddy” Combs) that they do an anniversary show of one of the biggest concerts ever; Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Sergio warms up to the idea and sends Aaron to England to bring back Aldous. However, Aaron finds Aldous in rough shape. Aldous is hanging on by a thread after his musical career has sunk below rock bottom. After releasing one of the worst songs ever titled African Child, Aldous has lost his wife, much of his fame, and all his self-respect.

At first what seems like an easy task has become a futile job. Aldous is doing as much as he can not to go to the show while Aaron is sweating bullets and stressing out over the situation. It ends up though that Aaron starts to follow Aldous’s behaviour rather than Aaron being able to clean up Aldous’s demeanour. Having left In the middle of a turbulent time with his girlfriend Daphne (Elisabeth Moss), Aaron’s stress gets the better of him. As a result, he takes up Aldous’s deviant ways to relax and in turn becomes just as hopeless as Aldous. With time quickly ticking down before the start of the show, Aaron realizes that he needs to get serious and get Aldous to the Greek Theatre to save both their careers.

The major issue with this movie is the comedy. There are some scenes that are pretty funny and other ones where you’ll roll your eyes sitting through them just waiting for them to be over. How many movies has it been now in the last decade that have made jokes about smuggling drugs up someone’s derriere? The joke isn’t classic, it’s old. Then there are the fake music videos which try to make fun of all the crazy antics musicians do in real-life. First off, do they still make music videos because I was pretty sure that MTV and VH1 have become nothing but portals for reality television. Secondly, there’s a major difference in what Madonna did during the peak of her career in terms of sexuality and religious allegory and the shenanigans that Aldous Snow and Maggie Q (Rose Byrne) do in their videos. While there have been banned music videos before for being too over the top, no producer in their right mind would have wanted to make African Child (as it is in the movie) as it would have never aired anywhere and that person would never work in the music or film industry again.

It’s not like the cast doesn’t try. However, this film goes way over the top because that’s what everyone involved thinks will make it funny. Sure, it gets a few laughs here and there but many of the jokes are lame. There’s making fun of something for being stupid and then there’s taking something, making it sound stupider than it actually is, and then going overboard in making fun of the new creation. Get Him to the Greek has that down to a science. The problem is that it’s bad science.

A major problem with these (Apatow-produced) movies is the lack of a script. It’s not that they don’t have a script but that there’s quite a bit of leniency when it comes to actors straying from it. It shows because it feels like some of the dialogue is coming out of nowhere. This method is generally used in film to create a sense of authenticity; that the actor is saying something that would come naturally and organically if the conversation they’re having on-screen was real. The problem here is that some of the situations in this film are so bizarre that, in vain attempts to be funny, the jokes fall flat because it seems like the stuff being said is only being said to sound as outlandish as possible. It’s like being at a party and sitting next to the guy who feels the need to tell jokes all night long to be entertaining; except he’s not funny and his stories are just getting weirder and duller, all at the same time.

It also feels like they had no idea how they wanted to end the movie (which is a common problem for comedies nowadays). They had a premise for the movie and knew how to get things started but it seemed like they didn’t know what they wanted to do once Aaron got Aldous on the plane to the United States. After that part of the movie, the film gets really chaotic and things feel like they’re happening at random. Then the ending sort of comes together but not in a way that feels natural; more like in a way where you take a bunch of jigsaw puzzle pieces and smash them together and then walk away saying you’ve solved the puzzle. It’s as if there was no real effort to write the movie as it was to put together a couple of comedy sketches and call it a movie.

That’s not to say it’s all bad. Some of the stuff is actually funny and makes the film enjoyable in parts. The acting is decent and it doesn’t feel like anyone is trying to outshine anyone else (considering some of the egos involved in this production, that’s a pretty impressive feat). There is a good movie somewhere in this mess and there may be some people that will have a really good time with this film. If the writing was tighter and it didn’t feel like a giant improv show, this would have been one of the better comedies in a long while.

Get Him to the Greek is a write-off. Nicholas Stoller and the gang didn’t seem to put all that much effort into building the foundation for this production although the cast appeared to have tried hard to make things work. Sure, Johah Hill vomiting in front of Meredith Viera is good for a cheap laugh. However, this movie needed to be something more than cheap laughs; otherwise it should be something you can see for free on the Internet.

☆☆