Get Him To The Greek

If there is a more perfect piece of casting than hedonistic English rascal Russell Brand playing a hedonistic drug-addled rascal rock star then Hollywood has yet to make it. Get Him To The Greek; a spin off from Forgetting Sarah Marshall where Brand’s character virtually stole the show now takes front and centre in this comedy about Snow’s further adventures. Life has not been kind to the hellraiser, he has suffered a humiliating flop with his last album, split from his long term girlfriend and has subsequently fallen off the wagon. Record company intern Aaron Green played by Jonah Hill is then charged with getting him to the Greek Theatre in L.A to play an anniversary/career revival gig.

As spin-offs go this one ticks the boxes; the producers have taken some of the best bits from the original material, combined with the chemistry that the two lead stars evidently share and given them a playground to run around in. From the first few minutes it’s evident that Brand has recaptured the spirit of Aldous Snow, the answer to what happens when you throw the DNA of Keith Richards, Ozzy Osbourne, and Robert Plant with a liberal sprinkling of Viagra into a test tube. Although sadly he isn’t as funny as he was in Marshall, far too often left to get drunk yet again and leer at pretty women which leads him at times veering dangerously into just plain irritating territory.

Although the whole film lives or dies on your opinion of Russell Brand; it won’t convert people who found him annoying in the first place but will give those who like him plenty to enjoy. For the funniest performance of the film, and you are reading this correctly, you have to look towards Sean Coombs a.k.a P. Diddy playing the head honcho of the record company. He has some of the funniest lines and delivers them brilliantly, the film is truly brought to life when he is on the screen.

The whole thing put together just about works. Hill and Brand are good together and there are a number of laughs that wouldn’t have gotten off the ground if it weren’t for their spark; an airport smuggling scene and a wild family reunion gone wrong are two particular stand outs.  There are too many crazy drink and drug fuelled scenarios that all look the same and there are times when the humour is threatened to be sucked out completely as Snow’s sadness is overplayed too much for the script to successfully pull it out of the dive.  It doesn’t quite hit the heights of a mammoth night out with a rock legend, but it doesn’t leave you with a stinking hangover the next morning either.