Get Him to the Greek review by Jackass Tom

In the struggling music production company, executive Sergio Roma (Sean Combs) challenges his staff to come up with some great idea to save their jobs. Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) comes up with an idea that sounds plausible enough to try: Take an established legendary rock performer, create a concert in LA on the anniversary of another concert, make a DVD, re-issue albums etc. etc. That legend is Aldous Snow (Russell Brand).

That seems like a logical plan, until Green is tasked with bringing Snow from the UK to the US, for him to play for Good Morning America and then at the Greek Coliseum in Los Angeles. Snow is still very much a rock prima donna and as such doesn’t like to be weighed down by things like schedules, concert dates, or sobriety. Green struggles with not only managing the rocker’s itinerary but also his fragile psyche in the wake of his most recent billboard flop.

Now if you recognize the name Aldous Snow, its not because you own one of his early albums; its because you have seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall in which the Aldous Snow character steals Jason Segal’s girl. The two movies are both directed by Nicolas Stoller (Sarah Marshall written by Segal), and as you would expect based on the various players involved, he falls from the Judd Apatow tree of comedy so there are a slew of dirty jokes on pretty much all hard rockin’ topics, save masturbation (because Apatow pretty much covers that one exclusively).

The character of Brand creates is a throw back to the “dumber than they’ll ever know” characters of Spinal Tap. So drugged up at one point (maybe even the current point) that they don’t understand their comical lack of depth. The intro shows Aldous setting up a pretentious train wreck of an album (in Tap terms: Shit Sandwich) called African Child. His hope is to show some great cause or purpose simply by filming in Africa and showing bad things in Africa but, like most musicians, all he does is fuel his own ego with Christ-like references. Aside from that, Brand’s actual songs are quite catchy with lyrics about as dirty and sexual as the rest of the movie. I would actually like to have “The Clap” on my iPod, and may look into making that happen.

As I watched this movie, I tried to think if there was another fake musician I had enjoyed as much as Aldous Snow since Tap Triumvirate. Airheads was forgettable and bad. Tenacious D is more of a Jack Black schtick than a rock star send up. I haven’t seen Rock Star so I can’t speak to it. The characters from Almost Famous probably come closest but offer more drama than enjoyment. Its hard to compare them to Snow because they are two completely different films, but when it comes to seeing a live show, I’d probably pick Snow.

For fans of Mad Men, Elisabeth Moss plays Jonah Hill’s medical-intern fiancé Daphne. There is good chemistry between the two (in a way that they are never really together for more than two minutes as their waking and resting periods constantly overlap). She seems comfortable making the transition from the best television drama currently on TV to an Apatow comedy with lots of Jonah Hill puke, although to my recollection she shares no screen time with the puke. There is an awkward moment to wards the end of the film that is probably awkward for reasons other than Moss being a part of it.

Sadly the ending is wrapped too neatly. Annoyingly too neatly. Its not so much of a spoiler if I give it away but I will just mention that its just a little to sweet and fairy tale for my taste and really doesn’t follow the flow of the rest of the movie. I’m not going to go out on any limbs and proclaim this something exceptional. For a humorous, juvenile attraction it will satisfy your appetite but any greater expectations will be missed significantly.




6 out of 10 Jackasses
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