Review - Get Him to the Greek

A Record label employee and super fan Aaron Green is given the task to escort the notorious rock star Aldous Snow from London to Los Angeles for a 10 year Anniversary concert at the Greek Theater. Given Snow's reputation, Aaron knew his task wouldn't be easy, but he never expected he would have to lie, coerce, enable and befriend Aldous just to get him to there.


Expectations can often ruin a movie. A viewer having their expectations set too high can easily equal disappointment, just as having them set too low can at times negate the viewer's entire perspective on the film. "Get Him to the Greek" is one of the rare instances where having set expectations may not matter, you'll find yourself entertained regardless.

Now I always try to go into a film unbiased, but realistically no one has the ability to be completely bias free when using characters or material from a previous film. "Get Him to the Greek" of course uses the character of Aldous Snow from director Nicholas Stoller's 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I hated the Aldous Snow character in 'Sarah Marshall' and went into this movie worried I couldn't handle him in the lead. Fans of the Snow character are going to love him here in 'Greek' and for people who also disliked the character, he's actually not half bad. While I still find Russell Brand and the Aldous Snow character unappealing, the comedy does a exceptional job of making his persona laughable and even engaging at times.

"Get Him to the Greek" succeeds in the variety of comical situations it throws the characters Aldous Snow and Aaron Green into. Very much a road comedy and a buddy comedy hybrid, the movie combines aspects we've seen before like the Odd Couple-esque pairing of Snow and Green. Aaron Green played by Jonah Hill is a very straight laced character, while Aldous is boisterous and outlandish on the surface. Brand and Hill's exchanges throughout the 109 minute comedy are quite hysterical. Combined with the familiar locations the comedy transports Snow and Green through like the Today Show with Meredith Vieria, 'Greek' delivers numerous laugh-out-loud situations.

Nichols Stoller's script has a number of comical characters within but one of the best written and performed characters has to be Sergio Roma played by Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs. Roma is the Record Label owner who hires Aaron Green to escort Aldous Snow from London to Los Angeles. Sean Combs obviously knows this role being the owner of Bad Boy Records in real life and it shows, but Diddy surprisingly delivers the best performance of the road trip romp. Sean Combs is a genuine riot and I want to see more him. Seriously, P. Diddy can act.

Where "Get Him to the Greek" falls apart for me is the heart. Stoller tries to give Aldous Snow a conscience in the movie and I for one could not connect with or stay engaged with any of these plot advances. I didn't care about Aldous Snow before or after the movie regardless of the fact the film wanted me to. The same can be said for the character of Aaron Green. Emotionally, the comedy lost me, but in the end it doesn't matter. I still got what I needed from the pointless spin-off comedy.