On the heels of 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall comes the spin-off Get Him to the Greek, which features the same rocker Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) and his one foot on the wagon, and one foot way, way off the wagon antics.
In Sarah Marshall, Aldous had begun dating the titular character and, being seven months sober, was drinking in the fame of his recent hit “Inside of You” instead of ethanol-ridden alternatives.
Get Him to the Greek picks up after Aldous’s downfall, a particularly questionable song entitled “African Child.” Once on top of the rock charts, the world didn’t respond well to such lyrics as “All of these blowjobs in limousines/ what do they mean/ to the little African child trapped in me.” No longer welcomed in the arms of his groupies (or sorrow-suckers), Aldous finds solace in many, many bottles of alcohol.
Enter idealist Aaron Green (Superbad’s Jonah Hill). Don’t be confused – Hill doesn’t play the same Aldous-obsessed “I just went from six to midnight” stoner as in Sarah Marshall. Instead, Hill’s Aaron works for a music label and presents the idea of a concert to revive the public’s interest in Aldous. From there the plot unfolds. Aaron must escort the party-hardy Aldous to the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in time for his show.
The humor centers on the party scenes, which make up nearly the entire movie. Absinthe, anal sex, and vomiting are just a few of the overbeaten punch lines in Get Him to the Greek. Hill and Brand’s bro-mantic chemistry, though, makes up for the sometimes overwritten dialogue. Their interactions, especially when influenced by drugs, are hilarious and entertaining. P-Diddy’s role as Aaron’s boss serves to exacerbate their crazy antics, as he attempts to “mindf***” Aldous into doing what he wants.
While no song compares to Sarah Marshall’s “Inside of You,” similarly raunchy tunes pervade the Greek soundtrack. However, Aldous’s music is nothing compared to that of his ex, Jackie Q (Rose Byrne), who sings about anal sex in a Marie Antoinette-themed music video. Bryne plays a character as unsympathetic as she is hyper-sexualized.
Aside from the overplayed gross-out factor (there is no need for close-ups of a compound fracture), Get Him to the Greek is exactly what educated movie-goers would expect. Educated movie-goers, in this instance, refers to those Sarah Marshall veterans who are well familiar with the outspoken character of Aldous Snow. Viewers who can’t find humor in things being shoved up people’s asses somewhat unwillingly (be it drugs or dildos), might not enjoy Brand’s latest film endeavor. Get Him to the Greek is raunchy and far from understated, but fans of Superbad and other such flicks will find themselves enjoying the misfortunes of the Brand-Hill comedic duo.
—Christina Warner, Managing Editor
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