Get Him To The Greek

I can only imagine how this movie was pitched to studio execs. Let’s take one of the mediocre characters from a funny movie and build a story around his drug addiction and really minimize the impact it has on people… I guess there’s more to it than that but Russell Brand’s spinoff of his Forgetting Sarah Marshall character Aldus Snow strays from the off the cuff comedy that made the first incarnation such a hit.

This time, Brand portrayed an even more extreme version of Snow with drugs and alcohol being the basis for his antics. It’s possible the writers intended to use the tons of drugs to convey a sort of anti-drug awareness message, but it struck me as kind of bazaar as I left the theater cringing at the after effects the characters would feel from the sheer tonnage of narcotics hit. But drug movies never speak to me as much as some other people.

This is the only instance I can remember where I actually enjoyed a Jonah Hill performance. His portrayal as an aspiring entrepreneur in the music business was likeable most of the time and the scenes with ­­­­ ­­Elizabeth Moss who plays his girlfriend, Daphne are probably the strongest and most realistic in the entire film. However, those already mentioned drug scenes change his character into the usual dumb teenager Hill portrays in teen comedies like Superbad and Knocked Up.

For some reason Brand is good at playing a celebrity engulfed in his own image battling drug addiction… I don’t know why. But with all the negatives it is important that I point out how funny the film actually is. It channeled The Hangover for overboard shenanigans and never went too long without a laugh. The writers built on the ridiculous songs from Forgetting Sarah Marshall giving Snow a hysterical catalog of fictional hits.

Another positive was the pacing of the film. It’s rare you get a film that has constant comedy and doesn’t come off as too short. It fit a full story arch into one film with no reason for there to be a sequel. I can attribute that to the plotline only taking place over a few days as opposed to some kind of epic journey through the years. Then throw in Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was probably the funniest part of the whole film, and I can say the film was a strong success. Is it wrong to say that when a rapper is the funniest actor the surrounding team of comedic performers kind of look bad? Insert “Bad Boy For Life” reference here. (8.5 out of 10)