Get Him to the Greek Review

What would summer be without a Judd Apatow (The 40 Year Old Virgin) movie? Well, fear not, Judd Apatow has produced "Get Him to the Greek" and it's a blast. Credit must be given to director-writer Nicholas Stoller and writer Jason Segel but it's another funny movie that Apatow has had a hand in developing. I just saw Apatow on Bill Maher's Real Time and he was a riot. So feel confident with any Apatow project you're going to get something funny.

Get Him to the Greek is a spin-off from the 2008 movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Russell Brand reprises his role as aging English rocker Aldous Snow. Snow has just released the song and video for "African Child." In the video, he plays a white Jesus type character from outer space who is going to deliver Africans from their current poverty. If that doesn't sound bad enough, the song is piece of junk pop. The song tanks and critics call it the worst thing to happen to Africa since apartheid. This also causes his relationship with his girlfriend and mother of his son, Jackie Q (Rose Byrne) to deteriorate. Snow hits the skids hard with drugs.

Back in Los Angeles, Pinnacle Records head Sergio Roma (Sean "Diddy" Combs) is grilling his staff for ideas to increase record sales. Aaron Green, (Jonah Hill) a young executive, suggest that they bring Snow to the Greek Theater where he triumphed ten years earlier. Sergio thinks it's a great idea and dispatches Green to London to get him. Unfortunately for Green, Snow wants to party all the way back to Los Angeles.

The script features some very funny lines and hilarious songs. There are some very funny set pieces also. Jonah Hill as Green lacks the innocence to keep the story as interesting as I would like but he's good enough to play straight man to Brand's manic rocker. And what can I say about Sean Combs? Marry his bad boy rapper with some really crazy dialogue and you get a hilarious performance. The only problem I had with the film is the caution it had with all that debauchery. There's a scene where Green has "sex" with a hooker that could have been ratcheted up for more laughs. Eventually the filmmakers give a drugs are bad message which really saps the comic energy.

Get Him to the Greek doesn't disappoint. It's a funny movie. The grade is B.