Get Him To The Greek

Movie Summary of Get Him To The Greek by Michael The Moviegoer.

GET HIM TO THE GREEK = ***1/2

“Brand Awareness”

Those of you who follow my movie reviews already know that I’m not a fan of sequels. If a movie title ends with a number, it’s probably not very good. That’s because sequels generally follow a cookie-cutter formula that usually results in something resembling a remake rather than a continuation of story and plot events.

High praise must be given to the team of Judd Apatow, Jason Segal and Nicholas Stoller for NOT making “Forgetting Sarah Marshall 2” and instead creating an entire new film based on a supporting character from that film. “Get Him To The Greek” follows the rock star character Aldous Snow, hilariously played with rock-hard perfection by Russell Brand.

Years after committing career suicide by releasing an insulting song about Africa, a young A&R exec (Jonah Hill) at Snow’s record label decides to re-ignite interest in Snow’s catalogue of hits by staging a comeback concert at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Sean Combs gives his best screen performance ever as the label president who gives Hill only a few days to get Snow from London to L.A. to make the concert happen.

It’s ironic that Combs’ attempts to breakout as an actor have always had mixed results. From 2001’s “Made” where he played a gangster, to the 2008 TV remake of “A Raisin In The Sun”, Combs never really delivered anything Oscar-calibre. But since his real-life day job has been running one of the most successful hip-hop music empires in the world, Combs is essentially playing a character that very closely resembles himself. Type-casting has never been so important to a role, and here Combs’ performance is pure comic genius.

“Get Him to the Greek” is easily one of the funniest movies you will ever see. It is also the best parody of the music business that I have ever seen, ranking right up there with “This Is Spinal Tap”. It is a very R-rated comedy, but as it’s set in the world of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, it kind of has to be in order to feel authentic.

So, if you wanna laugh your ass off, and witness a superb continuation of a career-defining role for actor Russell Brand, “Get Him To The Greek” is not to be missed.

DVD Double Feature: The perfect companion piece for this film is a little-known 1998 gem called “Still Crazy”. Bill Nighy, Stephen Rea, Jimmy Nail, Timothy Spall and Billy Connolly play aging British rock superstars trying to make a comeback. If you love the character of Aldous Snow, you will love this movie.

Michael The Moviegoer

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