Get Him to the Greek (2010)

Get Him to the Greek is a 2010 American comedy film written, produced, and directed by Nicholas Stoller and starring Jonah Hill and Russell Brand. The film was released on June 4, 2010. Get Him to the Greek is a spin-off sequel of Stoller's 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, reuniting director Stoller with stars Hill and Brand. Brand reprises his role as character Aldous Snow from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, while Hill plays an entirely new character. The film also stars Elisabeth Moss, Rose Byrne, and P Diddy.

The Plot

British rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) a man with extreme talent who runs quick, releases an album—and a titular single—"African Child", which is a commercial and critical failure. Despite having been drug and alcohol free for seven years, along with his pop-star girlfriend Jackie Q (Rose Byrne), when—in an interview—she drunkenly declares they have a boring life, he relapses—which effectively ends his relationship with her, makes him lose custody of their son, Naples, and sabotages his career.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) works as a low-level talent scout at Pinnacle Records, a successful record company. He lives with his girlfriend, Daphne (Elisabeth Moss), a medical intern. Pinnacle Records is losing a lot of money as a result of poor record sales, and the head of the company, Sergio Roma (Diddy), asks for ideas. Green proposes that Aldous Snow play at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on the tenth anniversary of his legendary performance there. Sergio sends Aaron to London to escort Aldous to the performance. Before he leaves, Daphne informs Aaron that she has received a job offer in Seattle and that they are moving there, which leads to an argument resulting in an apparent break-up.

After retrieving Aldous from his apartment, Aaron tries futilely to control Aldous's rambunctious behavior, which causes them to miss several flights. They bar-hop across the city for several hours, leaving a trail of women and alcohol in their wake. Daphne calls Aaron to apologize for the fight, only to learn that Aaron believes that they are broken up. Throughout his partying, Aaron's cellphone accidentally calls Daphne periodically, informing her of Aaron's activities.

Aaron and Aldous travel to New York for Aldous's appearance on Today. To keep Aldous sober for his performance, Aaron imbibes all of Aldous's whiskey and marijuana. Minutes before the performance, Aldous realizes he is unable to remember the lyrics to his most recent and unpopular song, "African Child", and replaces it with an older hit, "The Clap", to cheers and excitement from the audience.

About to embark on a flight to Los Angeles, Aldous forces Aaron to smuggle heroin in his rectum. During their travels, Aaron learns that Aldous has become miserable and lonely, as he misses his son and has been alienated from his own father Jonathan (Colm Meaney) for years. Aaron suggests he visit him after the show; instead Aldous insists they go to Las Vegas to see Jonathan. Sergio soon arrives, with plans to "mindfuck" Aldous to Los Angeles. Sergio hooks up Aaron with a sexually rambunctious girl named Destiny (Carla Gallo), who takes him to a hotel room and rapes him. After Aaron tells Aldous that he has been raped, Aldous gives him a "Jeffrey", a joint described as "a Neapolitan of drugs". Aaron panics and starts to have a bad trip, believing he is having a heart attack. Jonathan makes the trip worse by agreeing that Aaron is having a heart attack while Aldous attempts to calm Aaron down, primarily by the comforting sensation of stroking the furry walls of the hotel suite. Aldous fights with his father; Sergio (who is also high) jumps in the fight, and inadvertently sets the lounge on fire. Aldous attempts to help Aaron by giving him an adrenaline shot and they run out of the hotel, chased by Sergio, who is hit by a car but comes out unharmed.

Aldous and Aaron flee to Los Angeles, where Aldous visits Jackie Q. She has been sleeping with Metallica's drummer, Lars Ulrich (playing himself) and confesses that Naples is not actually his biological son, but instead is a photographer's son. This depresses him even further. Meanwhile, Aaron goes to his home to apologize to Daphne. They are interrupted when Aldous arrives at their house and proposes that he, Aaron, and Daphne engage in a threesome; Daphne (who is mad at Aaron) agrees and Aaron hesitantly goes along. During the threesome, Aaron angrily decides to kiss Aldous, breaking it up. Daphne and Aaron both immediately regret the threesome, and Aaron angrily tells Aldous to go, criticizing Aldous's overall mental state.

Instead of preparing for his show, Aldous goes to the rooftop of the Standard Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, and calls Aaron, threatening to jump. Aaron rushes to the hotel, and attempts to coax Aldous down from the roof. Instead, Aldous jumps into a rooftoop pool several floors down, accidentally breaking an arm. Aldous tells Aaron that he is lonely, sad and embarrassed, but Aaron reminds Aldous that thousands of fans love him and are waiting just to see him. Aldous decides to perform at the Greek Theatre despite his injury, even though Aaron pleas for him to go to the hospital. Upon their arrival, Sergio offers Aaron drugs to give to Aldous so he will not cancel the concert. Aaron angrily refuses and quits his job on the spot. He walks stage-side with Aldous, trying to convince him to go to the hospital instead. However, Aaron sees how happy Aldous is while performing and heads home to reconcile with Daphne.

Months later in Seattle (where Aaron and Daphne have moved), Aldous, sober once again, has returned to fame with a single "Furry Walls" produced by Aaron (now his official producer) based on events from their night in Las Vegas, performing on the VH1 Storytellers program.

Reviews

The film has received generally positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 73% based on 183 reviews, with an average score of 6.3/10 The critical consensus is: "Thanks to a suitably raunchy script and a pair of winning performances from Jonah Hill and Russell Brand, Get Him to the Greek is one of the year's funniest comedies."

Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 65, based on 39 reviews.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars by saying that "under the cover of slapstick, cheap laughs, raunchy humor, gross-out physical comedy and sheer exploitation, Get Him to the Greek also is fundamentally a sound movie."

The Cast

Russell Brand as Aldous Snow
 Rose Byrne as Jackie Q
 Tyler McKinney as African Child in Video
 Zoe Salmon as Herself
 Lino Facioli as Naples
 Lars Ulrich as Himself
 Mario López as Himself
 Pink as Herself
 Billy Bush as Himself
 Kurt Loder as Himself
 Christina Aguilera as Herself
 Colm Meaney as Jonathan Snow
 Danny O'Leary as Himself
 Jonah Hill as Aaron Green
 Elisabeth Moss as Daphne Binks
 Aziz Ansari as Matty
 Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs as Sergio Roma (as Sean Combs)
 Kali Hawk as Kali
 Nick Kroll as Kevin