DVD review: Get him to the Greek

An hapless low level talent scout needs to drag a degenerate rock start to his big comeback concert.

For many Aldous Snow, played by Russel Brand, was the real show stealer of Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I didn’t share their enthusiasm, not a fan of Brand work, but I admit that the character is original and has a strange appeal. “Get him to the Greek”, therefore, is the spinoff starting Aldous Snow, this time relapsed on drugs, on a cross continental journey to the Greek theatre in Los Angeles (By the way it’s just me or these Californian really thinks that just name dropping the name of one of their theatres is normal business. Because they are so important that we know all their establishments by name!).

Anyway this time Snow character is even more egotistical and incredibly unsympathetic. He is a fictional version of Russel Brand public persona; they even share the same dress code. We sense a real problem with the introduction of his mismatched buddy, Aaron Green.

Jonah Hill always had trouble connecting with the audience. Due to his physique he doesn’t normally play the bad guy but that is actually the kind of role where he does excel. By the way, another strange fact, Jonah Hill doesn’t play the same character that he plays in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”, I know it’s the same actor and they share the same insane obsession for Russel Brand in leather but they are actually two different people, they are not even related. I can only suspect that in the sequel we’ll discover that they are long lost twin.

So the first big problem is that there is virtually no body to root for. The humor, fundamental in a comedy, is of the lewd, cruel type. Aldous does terrible things, mainly to Aaron, all over the movie. It’s occasionally funny but overall it’s cringe worthy material.

Funnily enough the real show stealer is Rose Byrne Jackie Q as the incredibly vapid pop star and the mother of Aldous child but if this movie teaches us a lesson is that certain things works only in little portions. It’s like a cake, a slice is fine but the entire cake is a certain cause of indigestion.