Get Him to the Greek is the story of a fisherman’s plight to get a mystical fish to a famous Greek restaurant before… who am I kidding. Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ll know Russell Brand is in town telling all who will listen about his first major film role in Get Him to the Greek. And much like Brand himself, the film is quite loud and annoying but by the end of it you grow to like the man.
Get Him to the Greek tells the story of young record label A&R man Aaron (Apatow alum Jonah Hill of Superbad) who is tasked with getting washed up rocker Aldous Snow (Brand) to a show at the Greek theatre in LA in two days or his boss Sergio (P Diddy) will have his balls for brunch.
The only problem is Aldous has a bit of a drink and drugs problem, as well as some personal issues which threaten to derail what should be an easy gig. So Aaron will have to use every trick in the book to get him to the Greek.
When Russell Brand turned up in the very funny Forgetting Sarah Marshall playing rock star Aldous Snow, nobody batted an eyelid in disbelief as the guy’s real life tends to imitate that of a rocker, save for the fact that he can’t sing. So it makes perfect sense that his first major role should be as a drugged-up rocker with issues who goes on a journey of self discovery and by the end they all live happily ever after, which is exactly how The Greek plays out.
Scarily close
It’s hard to criticise a movie that doesn’t claim to be anything more than it is. Brand himself has said he wants to break into the US and The Greek may just be the key. His Aldous is scarily close to Brands actual TV personality we’ve all seen and much like Courtney Love in The People Vs Larry Flint you get the feeling Brand doesn’t really have to act, as what happens on screen has probably been played out many times before in reality, and for that the film is much better than it probably should have been.
As for Jonah Hill, he has little to do here other than look hungover and react to Brand’s barbs and demands, which he does with gusto. Rounding out the major cast is P Diddy as Sergio, owner of the record label hosting the Greek gig. Diddy tries to pull a Tom Cruise/Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder by taking the mick out of himself but comes across as an egotistical record producer who wants to act.
Director Nicholas Stoller has worked with Brand before on Forgetting Sarah Marshall and he does well with what is basically a by-the-numbers star vehicle. Because the film is Brand’s there is little time for the cameos that you get from the Apatow-type movies, so if you are not a fan of Brand’s you will probably want to steer clear. But judging by the reception he received in Dublin (underwear thrown everywhere) and the rolling in the aisles I witnessed, I think the film is going to do fine.
Andrew Kennedy
