Two Blondes Go to a Movie: Get Him to the Greek

Jessica says:

Rockers are not my type.  The eyeliner, the skinny pants, the heroin, etc.  Not my thing.  However…there is an undeniable charisma to Russell Brand.  I mean, I can see what Katy Perry and the 1.2 million previous ladies he has (allegedly) bedded are drawn to.

The plot of Get Him to the Greek is fairly simple – Jonah Hill plays a record company employee tasked with getting rocker and drug addict, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), from London to a gig at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in three days.  You might recognize the character, Aldous Snow, from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, where he was the title character’s boyfriend.  When I saw the previews for this movie, I feared that it might only have the four jokes in the ad (a con that has been played on me before by the movie industry).  Not so.  It’s actually pretty darn funny.  I can’t say for certain if Russell Brand is just playing himself on screen or not, but it does seem that way.  In fact, it seems that way for Jonah Hill and Sean “Puff Daddy” “Puffy” “P. Diddy”  “Diddy” Combs too.  Jonah Hill is a loveable everyman and SPDPPDDC is a demanding and slightly crazy record company executive.

I really enjoyed this movie.  There is a Vegas hotel room showdown that spirals into one of the funniest fight scenes I’ve ever seen.  The music is all a bit ridiculous (as intended).  I saw Get Him to the Greek at Universal’s CityWalk and the best review I can give it was that it was entertaining enough to make the room full of teenagers that are inescapable at CityWalk shut up.  That’s no small feat.  It’s totally worth seeing at the full movie ticket price.

P.S.  SPDPPDDC mentions owning 11 Koo Koo Roos in the movie.  I just thought I might explain, for those of you who don’t live in Los Angeles, that Koo Koo Roo is a rotisserie chicken chain.  See here.

Alison says:

All of us have that drunk friend (or have been that drunk friend) you have to get home one night. All they want to do is go have another drink and/or lie down in the middle of the street so they can watch the stars. So we can all relate on some level to the plight of Jonah Hill’s character in Get Him To The Greek. But most of us haven’t had the experience of trying to get a rock star home safe (or to a concert).

I did not think I would love this movie so much. I hadn’t seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall, so I didn’t know anything about the character of Aldous Snow.  All I knew about Russell Brand was he’s British, engaged to Katy Perry, a comic, very loud, and I once saw him make out with Ben Lyons’ grandmother during a red carpet interview.  I was pretty sure I was going to find him annoying after 2 hours.  I was very wrong.  I found him hilarious and charming and kinda sexy, even though (like Jessica) I’ve never been the kind of girl to fall for a guy who wears eyeliner and tight pants.

I also did not think I’d find Sean Diddy (or is it Puff Daddy?  I really have no idea) funny, but once again I was wrong.  He cracked me up.  I was genuinely laughing throughout the entire movie.  Jonah Hill was funny as usual.  I was also impressed with both his and Russell Brand’s ability to display vulnerability in their characters.  There was more depth to this film than I expected.  I was actually touched at times despite my ice-covered heart.  But most importantly I did laugh my ass off and had a great time watching this film with Jessica.

LA Viewers: Totally worth paying full price at the Grove or Arclight. Also would be fun to see at 21+ screening at Arclight.
Translation for non-LA viewers: Go see it!