'Get Him To The Greek' DVD is off-Brand

DVD REVIEW: Get Him To The Greek (Universal Pictures); 2-Disc Unrated Collector's Edition

By Robbie Woliver

You recall Aldous Snow, Russell Brand’s dull, narcissistic British rocker who bedded Sarah Marshall? Well the producers of Get Him To The Greek thought it would be a good idea to take that brief funny, cinematic turn and manufacture a full-length film around him. Not an altogether terrible idea, but what seemed to slip their minds was that a little of Brand goes a long, long, long, long way.

Greek has its wonderful moments, and I must admit that Brand, who I find intolerable, was part of several. However, the potential of the film and the high points it sometimes reached (you’ll see them all in the trailer) were fleeting. Following the plight and ultimate redemption of a broken soul is often cinematic gold (The Wrestler, Gran Torino, etc), and here they had a washed-up rocker to work with—this could have been the rock n roll Wrestler, with laughs. But it’s difficult to commit to a character who is mostly unbearable to watch, physically and acting-wise (those faces you ake, Russell, you have to control them).

Let’s start with the good moments: the opening with its fake news clips and headlines chronicling Snow's career heights and depths culminating with his rock-star-as-Savior single “African Child,” which just about ruins his career and life, as much as girlfriend Jackie Q (a terrific Rose Byrne) does; and Sarah Marshall’s (Kristen Bell) cameo as the star of Blind Medicine, in which she plays a blind doctor.

We are soon introduced to Aaron Green (the fab Jonah Hill) who is a low-level record company flunky at the very high-energy Pinnacle Records run by Sergio Roma, played deftly by Sean “P. Diddy” Combs. Aaron suggests resurrecting Aldous’ career at a pretty funny Pinnacle operations meeting (thanks to droll hipster Nick Kroll as Kevin, and a few unfunky white girls) and is then assigned the task of bringing Aldous from London back to the U.S. to perform at special appearance on The Today Show and then a comeback performance at the Greek Theater in L.A. Here’s the only place where the film delivers: yes, they get him to the Greek.

You can slip Superbad or The Hangover into the DVD player at almost any point because you’ve seen this all before, especially in the out-of-control Las Vegas scene. Hill adds a great humanity, but he and Brand, as well as Aaron and Aldous, do not make a very likable pair. Everyone in the film, except for Hill, is extremely mean-spirited and it gets a bit tortured. Even Daphne, Hill’s longtime girlfriend (Elizabeth Moss’ schizophrenic role) gets on your nerves after a while. If this were just a straight-out serious drama, that overriding sense of nastiness, would have worked better.

Heroin eventually becomes the centerpiece, and while Brand loves to recount his junkie days in real life, it’s not the best theme for a comedy. And that’s when the film really falls apart. As a junkie, Brand is about as tolerable as a…well, Katy Perry song.

Greek is full of contradictions. It’s funny, and it’s serious; it’s clever and it’s lame; it’s entertaining and unbearable; it’s got heart, and then it’s all whoopee cushion; it’s got the lovable Jonah Hill and the disagreeable Russell Brand. The pop culture references are often witty (funny one about Cher), as are many of the spoofs (Entertainment Tonight, VH-1 Storytellers). In fact, the highlight of the entire film is Aaron’s encounter with economist Paul Krugman at The Today Show. Yes, Krugman’s moment is funnier than Brand’s two hours. Lars Ulrich of Metallica adds a quirky few moments, and there are a few other memntarily fun celebrity cameos. The film is ripe with songs, like "The Clap," that are absolutely ridiculous (they’re supposed to be, I know) which is a shame because the videos for the songs were often clever and well-focused spoofs (the explicit “Ring Round the Rosy” and ”Supertight”). There are so many sexual references and dirty words one can take before you just give up. The second to last scene, an incredibly gratuitous sexual encounter, is so misplaced, even the actors seem uncomfortable with it. I’d say the ending was predictable, but there really was no way to guess how annoying Brand’s preening and posing would actually be during Aldous' triumphant performance.

This is a parody full of excess, there are few sympathetic characters and it flails between morose drama and sophomoric comedy. It’s a shame because the moments that are good could have been the basis for a really funny film. And Brand? Small doses, please.

EXTRAS: There are many. Some of the extras are better than the film—especially the mockumentary “‘Making of ‘African Child.’” The song/video might have ruined Aldous’ career, but it saves the movie and DVD. The highlight of the entire two-disc set, however, is the mini-episode of Blind Medicine, starring Bell as Sarah Marshall as a blind doctor, and Rick Schroeder. It had more solid laughs, funnier lines, and unlike Greek, not one mention of “vagina” to get a cheap giggle. After suffering through the film, the last thing you’ll want is more, so put off the commentary and behind-the-scenes documentaries (the music one is stunning in that it shows the really interesting artists like Jarvis Cocker, Dan Bern, and Bird and Bee’s Greg Kurstin, all contributed music). Is it worth sitting through producer Nicholas Stollar and Judd Apatow giving their thoughts on the film, waiting for a moment of brilliance from Jonah Hill? Didn’t think so. The Deleted and Unrated scenes are typical and predictable, but again, too much of Brand is not a good thing. There’s an alternate intro and ending: the alternate ending is much funnier than the real lame ending. The Gag Reels and Line-o-Rama is overkill as are the auditions. Combs, by the way, rises above the others in many of these extras. There’s also so much you can take of the full music videos and concert performances.

IN OTHER WORDS: Universal, you can use my quote: "Get Him To The Greek Delivers!" Yes, Aldous gets to the Greek.

GHTTG RATING: 5/10

BLIND MEDICINE RATING: 9/10

To see our archive of stories: www.REVIEWniverse.com