Get Him to the Greek

When I reviewed Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a movie I disliked with some intensity, I mentioned that I would like to see an entire film based on one of the supporting characters, the louche rock star played by Russell Brand. Well, writer/director Nicholas Stoller has heard that call and done just that. It's only fair that I go out to see Get Him to the Greek. I'm glad to say that it's a much better film than FSM, buoyed mostly by the appealing performances of Brand and Jonah Hill as a winning odd couple.

The plot is one of those one-sentence pitches they trumpet in screenwriting books. A sad-sack, low level cubicle dweller (Hill) of a record company mentions to his boss that it is close to the ten-year anniversary of a historic concert given by rock god Aldous Snow (Brand) at Los Angeles' Greek Theater, and it would be a good idea to stage an event to celebrate. The boss (Sean Combs, in an enthusiastic if not technically proficient performance) agrees, and sends Hill to London to fetch Brand. The whole concept of the movie is spelled out thusly--"You have 72 hours to get him to the Greek." Of course, those 72 hours won't be easy for our protagonist, an overweight schmoe who loves music but has little idea how to interact with musicians.

What follows is a race against time, as Hill lands in London, somehow gets Brand on a plane (but not before an evening of clubbing) to New York, where he then manages to get him to perform on the Today Show. The two make an unscheduled stop in Las Vegas, where Brand visits his cantankerous father (Colm Meaney), who is now a guitarist for a Rat Pack tribute show. As it is a law that any cinematic visit to Vegas results in some sort of drug-fueled riot, the two barely escape with their lives, and make it to L.A. with time to spare, but will Brand be able to defeat his demons and actually play the gig?

Most of this is a lot of fun, and there are a generous number of laughs. Stoller's most reliable gambit is to satirize the cult of celebrity, particular in the music business. Admittedly, that's an easy target, but most of the arrows land. There are a couple of terrific music video parodies, such as Brand's disastrous song "African Child," which sends up the rock world's perhaps glib efforts to help the poor: "I heard there was a war in Zimbabwe, Darfur, Rwanda, one of those countries," Brand says. His ex-girlfriend, played appealingly by Rose Byrne, is a Posh Spice-type model/singer who has a hit called "Ring Around My Dirty Posey." In fact, that's only one of the many references to anal penetration that abound in the film.

Where the film doesn't work is its predictably maudlin gooey center. The character of Aldous Snow, pumped up from a simple joke from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, is given more depth, and it's a familiar refrain--a world-famous celebrity, loved by millions, is in reality lonely. Hill's subplot involves his doctor girlfriend (Elisabeth Moss), with whom he has settled into a domesticity that's too cozy to allow for wild nights. The worst scene in the film has Brand initiating these two into a sexual threesome that has no rhyme or reason to it, and is badly directed, written and acted.

The best parts of Get Him to the Greek are those that exist in the moment, such as when Brand, running from a crazed Combs out of a Las Vegas hotel, has an expression of sheer delight on his face that sums his character in toto--the guy loves adventure. As long as the film sticks with moments like that, and leaves the Oprah moments behind, it works. Brand and Hill make a terrific team, and even if its something of a cliche--the slim, tall, sexy Brand and the rotund, sweaty, socially awkward Hill--whenever they're in some kind of jam it's a pleasure to see them work their way out of it. And, I should add, there are some great cameos, none so more than by Paul Krugman.

One final note--I don't know that I've ever seen a trailer for a film that has so many moments in it that did not make the final film.