Jun

6

Jonah Hill and russel Brand in Get him to the greekGet Him to the Greek

Directed by Nicholas Stoller

This week at the movies, we've got rock 'n' roll ribaldry (GET HIM TO THE GREEK, starring Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, Elizabeth Moss and Rose Byrne).
Fans of Jonah Hill (né Feldstein) will recall this fat, funny fur-ball from SUPERBAD (2007) and sundry other comedies where adipose on a featured character is cause for immediate hilarity. Hollywood makes no comedies without a token Zach Galifianakis type in this decade. For those unacquainted with the star vessel of GREEK, Brand is a British comic, actor, editorialist, author and radio and TV host/presenter.

Brand achieved UK mainstream hype for presenting Big Brother's Big Mouth, a popular spin-off, and for his radio broadcasts, among sundry TV series and award rites. Appeared in rom-com FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL (2008), ST. TRINIAN'S (2007), and BEDTIME STORIES (2008), none a standout. Relevant to his obnoxious persona here, Brand actually carried or participated in major pranks in the Brit media, such as the punk't-type 2008 calls that ended his BBC days. He has walked the walk, talked the talk.

Rose Byrne is a gorgeous Aussie presence from the hit TV thriller, Damages, and in this film has the thankless role of long-time spurned gal-pal of the monomaniacal drug-sozzled Brand, a truly unlikable character, despite his being in nearly every "comic" scene and eructative of many lines of unfortunate and often ugly truth. Clomping over everything and everyone, using and abusing nubile semi-nudes, snorting more faery dust and liquor than there are sands in the Kalahari, Brand fails to win hearts and minds. You just don't much like him. Even as a quirky-megalomanic rock star resisting the efforts of hapless Jonah Hill as promotional intern trying to lasso comeback rocker Brand into appearing at the sold-out Greek theatre in LA for a sold-out blowout.

As he carries on outrageously, corrupting the sweet Hill character, forcing sexual hi-jinks and pixie substances on this naïf, you don't warm to him. Instead, you idly wonder if he's really this bored, this feckless, and whether he mimicked his mojo from Mick Jagger or other Bad Boys. As is customary of late, the crudeness and vulgarity of most of the 'party' scenes disable description and are beyond tasteless.

Does any adult read these scripts before they are stunt-doubled onto remorseless forever?

Another TV cross-over, from the prize-winning prestigious Madison Ave drama, Mad Men, is the excellent Elizabeth Moss, as a physician live-in love of the corpulent Hill. She is a center of normalcy (along with Byrne's character) in a chaotic rampage as Hill and Brand burn rubber and life-journeys from London to Vegas to NYC to LA.
Putting in appearances, among the loud proceedings for musique aficionados, are Christina Aguilera, Mario Lopez, Pink, Kurt Loder, Lars Ulrich and Billy Bush.

Try as it might, cost whatever it cost, this is a weak attempt at replicating the comedic excess of HANGOVER (2009) or evoke even that classic laugh-fest starring an irascible superstar (Peter O'Toole) and hard-put-by ingénue intern, Mark-Linn Baker, in MY FAVORITE YEAR (1982).


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