Aldous Snow is in decline.
Once of the biggest hardest partying rock stars on the planet, his seven year stint of being clean and sober has come to a crashing end when his latest album “African Child” an attempt at being socially conscious is labeled by critics as being “the worst thing to happen to Africa since apartheid.”
But Snow has at least one loyal fan in Aaron (Jonah Hill), a low level functionary at Snow’s record label, who suggests to his boss a concert commemorating a legendary performance of Snow’s at Los Angeles’ Greek Theater a decade earlier as a way to boost revenues. Label head Sergio (Sean Coombs) likes the idea so much that he assigns Aaron the task of escorting Snow from his home in London to the LA venue. But what sounds like a dream assignment quickly gets out of hand as Snow’s hard partying ways aren’t very conducive to keep a strict travel schedule and also fairly seductive to the straight-laced Aaron.
Hill and Brand are likable enough screen personas and it is much to their credit that the movie is as enjoyable and watchable as it is. Brand deserves a special commendation for keeping us interested in his character, even after he gives Aaron a thoroughly hateful and spiteful dressing down in a Las Vegas hotel room. It’s an ugly turn for the character and one where the audience could have turned on him easily.
Brand and Hill’s chemistry helps move the film through some sequences that otherwise feel off in terms of character motivation. There are several moments when it seems as if characters are making decisions based more on the needs of moving the story to a certain point or to start a comedy set piece rather than out of their character’s nature.
However, there is one sequence that not even Hill and Brand can salvage. It comes towards the end of the film when Aldous tries to help repair Aaron and his girlfriend’s broken relationship. A suggestion is made and implemented. While it is supposed to be awkward and uncomfortable for those involved, it is even more uncomfortable for the audience to watch, to the point of being humorless and off-putting. It is a fatal misstep from which the movie never really recovers.
That’s not to say that the movie doesn’t contain plenty of good moments and I would be lying if I said that I didn’t laugh several times through its length. The rock and pop songs that Aldous and his ex-wife sing, along with their attendant videos, are hilariously more entendre than double entendre. Sean Combs turns in a surprisingly funny performance as the intense record company exec and the excesses we imagine that pop stars indulge in are sent up in a hilarious Mulligan’s Stew of narcotics called a “Jeffrey.”
While Get Him To The Greek starts off strong, it ultimately comes off as a poorly organized road trip. It invariably loses its way, leaving one more than just a bit worn out by the time its destination is reached.
