Get Him to the Greek

Get Him to the Greek is sort of The Hangover of 2010 insomuchas it's smart, better acted and directed than it has to be and very, very funny. A sort of spin-off of Forgetting Sarah Marshall (another comedy that is smart and better than it has to be), Get Him to the Greek this time focuses on British rock star Alduous Snow (Russell Brand). When the film opens, Snow is filming a hilariously bad video for a song called "African Child." He mistakingly thinks the song is going to change the lives of many but instead it tanks. Magazines say the only things worse that have happened to Africa are war and famine. Suddenly, his "monogamous" (meaning he tells her when he sleeps with other women) relationship with pop star Jackie Q (Rose Byrne and, honestly, I didn't know she could do funny this well) is falling apart. Then his 7 years sober goes out the window and he turns back into a destructive rock and roll has been.
Cut to Los Angeles where Aaron Green (Jonah Hill who was also in Forgetting Sarah Marshall but is portraying a completely different character here) lives a pretty unexciting life. By night, he watches marathons of Gossip Girl with his live-in intern girlfriend and by day he works for a record company head by a man named Sergio who is played by P. Diddy and who manages to steal this entire movie from Brand and Hill. Diddy is funny as hell! He gets all the best lines and his comic delivery is perfect. Who knew?!? Anyway, Sergio is looking for ways to make some money. A lot of lackluster ideas are thrown around until Aaron suggests a 10 year anniversary concert of Aldous Snow at the Greek theater. Sergio eventually gets on board and gives Aaron the task of going to London, collecting Aldous, and bringing him back to L.A. (with a pit stop in NYC for the Today Show) for the concert. As you can probably assume, hijinks ensue.
Let me be perfectly clear: it's not as if Get Him to the Greek is some sort of life changing experience or anything. But as far as summer movies go, and summer comedies for that matter, it's a damn funny movie. There is a 20 minute section or so near the end when they make a pit stop in Las Vegas and are partying in a suite where I don't think I ever laughed harder at a movie. The movie is just plain funny. Brand and Hill have a great chemistry together and both give better performances than they really have to in a funny movie. In funny movies, you don't really have to be a good actor. You just have to make people laugh. That these guys create characters who are not completely one-dimensional and have layers is an added bonus. Get Him to the Greek is not a great movie but it will definitely make you laugh.
Grade: B-