HOWEVER MUCH I BOOZE, THE SHOW MUST GO ON: a review of "Get Him To The Greek"

“GET HIM TO THE GREEK” Written and Directed by Nicholas Stoller
Based upon characters created by Jason Segal
Produced by Judd Apatow
***1/2 (three and a half stars)

"I didn't mean to let them take away my soul..."
-Pink Floyd
"The Show Must Go On"

My wife shared a funny, albeit pathetically funny, story she recently read in the news with me. It turns out that two University of Wisconsin-Madison students woke up one morning to find a 20 ft maple tree sitting in the middle of their apartment living room. They also found Madison police officers also standing in their living room ready to question them. How did the police officers find the two culprits? By simply following the trail of dirt, which led from the spot of the unplanted tree all the way across the street into the living space of the two students. The boys were not only issued a hefty set of fines, they also suffered the humiliation of dragging the maple tree back to its former home for re-planting.

Collegiate “Tom Foolery” notwithstanding, the extreme acts a person undergoes while in the deepest throes of inebriation is something that has always fascinated me, especially as I have typically been the type of person who would not partake in exorbitant amounts of illicit substances. Now my relative abstinence has not been due to the cause of any pious “Just Say No” stance. It is simply the fact that I never really liked the idea of becoming out of control. I never liked the idea of finding myself at the point where my mind, body and spirit where completely at the whims of whatever was traveling through and compromising my system. As I think about those two boys, I not only wondered exactly what substances they had obviously consumed as well as just how much. I mostly wondered how and when they jointly arrived at the point in their thought processes to actually decide that unplanting a maple tree and hefting it into the middle of their living room would be a hysterically brilliant thing to do. That precise and extreme amount of hedonism, and the emptiness it leaves behind lies at the heart of the latest Judd Apatow production, “Get Him To The Greek,” a consistently laugh-out-loud and surprisingly perceptive spin-off film from 2008’s “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”

Russell Brand reprises his role as rock star Aldous Snow, leader and driving force behind the band Infant Sorrow, whom we last saw leaving the idyllic Hawaiian islands and his relationship with television actress Sarah Marshall (Kristin Bell) very far behind. In “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” Snow was proudly clean and sober but in “Get Him To The Greek,” we are shown Snow’s spectacular free fall from his seven year sobriety as well as the artistic heights of his career. As “Greek” opens, we find Snow, now married to pop star Jackie Q. (Rose Byrne) and Father to young Naples, on a music video set preparing to unleash his latest album, “African Child,” unto his hungry fan base. Although Snow expects his star to climb even higher after the release of his latest musical opus, he is thrown for a loop when “African Child” is met with disastrous album sales and voluminous critical savagery (one magazine even claims the album is the worst thing to happen to Africa since Apartheid). Snow’s career and marriage completely fall apart; two acts that culminate in Snow’s return to a level of drug and alcoholic excess that makes him constant tabloid fodder for flogging and desecration.

Meet Aaron Green (Jonah Hill), an employee of the Pinnacle record label, run by music mogul Sergio Roma (an outstanding Sean “P. Diddy” Combs). During an extremely tense staff meeting with the volcanic Sergio, Aaron arrives with the idea that perhaps Pinnacle could convince the disgraced Aldous Snow to give a comeback rock concert to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his landmark gig at the Greek Theater. Aaron reasons that the concert could be simulcast on cable networks, and Snow’s back album catalog could be resurrected, creating an endless cash cow of which Pinnacle could reap the rewards. Convinced of this idea, Sergio enlists Aaron to travel to London, obtain Snow and bring him back to New York City to announce the comeback concert on the Today Show, which will occur a few days afterwards in Los Angeles. This is no an easy task especially with an unpredictable rock star with a worldwide reputation for endless narcotically fueled debauchery. Yet, Aaron claims he is up for the task, the success of which will undoubtedly elevate his own status in the music business. But, as Sergio exclaims, sweet and guileless Aaron has to become the master of “mental manipulation’ (although Sergio uses a more vulgar colloquialism) in order to have Snow bend to his will and arrive on time for the concert.

Further complicating matters is Aaron’s relationship with Daphne (a lovely Elisabeth Moss from television’s “Mad Men”), his live-in girlfriend and overworked medical student, who is herself trying to obtain a hospital residency position in Seattle, a move which would force Aaron to leave his star struck musical dreams in Los Angeles behind.

“Get Him To The Greek” is another comedy with a “race against time” screwball plot where a seemingly simple task flies apart in spectacular fashions. Throughout, I thought of films like John Landis’ classic and still influential “The Blues Brothers” (1980), the definitive high octane comedy featuring loads of music at the center and impetus. But it specifically reminded me very much of the character driven road comedies like John Hughes’ wonderful Thanksgiving themed romp “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” (1987), Hughes' underseen and underrated road comedy "Dutch" (1991) and even Martin Brest’s brilliant action comedy, “Midnight Run” (1988) starring Robert DeNiro as a bounty hunter assigned to reign in accountant and embezzler Charles Grodin.

Furthermore, like this year’s raucous “Hot Tub Time Machine” from Director Steve Pink, it beats last year’s “The Hangover” at its own game hands down by creating a collective of characters you not only wouldn’t mind spending time with, but characters who continuously reveal themselves as the film moves along. Yes, “Get Him To The Greek” is frequently hilarious but as with several of Apatow’s best productions, of which Stoller’s “Marshall” is a particular high point, the film creates a canvas that allows itself to broaden into deeper and darker emotional territories. While this may be oft putting to those who just want to laugh, I found the additions, meanderings and undercurrents made the experience more sustaining.

In “Marshall,” we were privy to the secret world of men’s insecurities, foibles, sexual confusions, failings and romantic woes. With “Greek,” Stoller has created a film that has more on its mind than just providing strong laughs and one drunken rampage after another (although it contains plenty of those and uproariously so).

In addition to being a strong romantic comedy as well as presenting the tenuous dance between fan and star, so brilliantly and beautifully explored in Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous” (2000), “Get Him To The Greek” could actually be more spiritually linked to Apatow’s sprawling comedy drama from last year “Funny People.” Like that underseen film, Stoller also depicts a world where the concept of enough does not exist and people souls are held in the balance at the expense of making millions upon millions of dollars. We see how the music industry and all of its excesses are making Snow an increasingly empty shell of a man whose musical legacy has been outweighed by his controversies. In fact, it seems as if Stoller has decidedly toyed with possible perceptions of Snow’s band name, Infant Sorrow, to plum his inner world of infinite sorrow, which is held at bay as long as he continues to over-consume. Now I am not trying to make the film sound more serious than it is. That said, I just greatly appreciate those extra details, attention and depth Nicholas Stoller gave to this material which elevated “Get Him To the Greek” from a film that could have been an enjoyable yet forgettable comedy into something truly memorable and one I am looking forward to re-visiting.

Russell Brand again finds the humanity of Aldous Snow, making this man almost compulsively watchable. He takes what could have been a mountainously tiresome caricature and, along with Stoller’s screenplay and direction, injects several layers to make him a full-blooded, three-dimensional character. Aldous Snow is depicted as being one of the last great self-destructive rock stars. His lithe, serpentine and wildly exaggerated eroticism is presented through an occasionally flickering tongue and shirts that are apparently impossible for the man to button. He suggests the form and stage presence of Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop or even more recently, Liam Gallagher of Oasis. It seems the film asks you to imagine the artistic downfall any of those three real world rock stars would endure if they released the type of globally influenced, overly self-conscious and self-congratulatory “art” album that either Peter Gabriel or Paul Simon would make, yet without any true understanding of the world and inherent musical influences of the material. And how does one, no matter their legendary status, publicly face down an artistic disaster of that magnitude? Beyond that, we are able to gather a window into his personal world through his addictions, his relationships with his divorced parents (Dinah Stabb and a great Colm Meaney, respectively), his heartbreak over Jackie Q. (which contains some surprising revelations) and his budding friendship with Aaron. Yet, it is during one of the film’s rare quiet sequences set in the wee early morning hours in Snow’s New York apartment as Aldous sits quietly in the dark wrestling with his bottomless loneliness and the fact that he is essentially a world famous junkie. All of those elements plus Brand’s unusual comedic rhythms keeps the character of Aldous Snow from ever becoming insufferable and it is amazing just how endearing he actually becomes.

Jonah Hill again shows why he is one of Judd Apatow’s key repertory players while additionally bringing out his quieter, more charming yet no less anxious persona in the role of Aaron Green. He deftly suggests a young man caught in various stages of an adult world he is not quite yet ready for through his demeanor and ill-fitting clothes. He simultaneously appears like an eight year old with his hand caught in the cookie jar as well as a young man who desperately just wants to do the right thing by all involved yet somehow keeps tripping over his own feet. His love story with Elisabeth Moss shows honest warmth, playfulness and even provides a surprising rooting interest when his adventures fly off the rails and heads into an unpredictable experience with Aldous Snow late in the film. And his comedic chemistry with Brand and Sean Combs (more on him shortly) is undeniable.

All of the aesthetics of “Get Him To The Greek” are first rate. The celebrity cameos from Meredith Vierra, CNN’s Brooke Anderson, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich and even Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy of the “Harry Potter” series) are all unforced and contain strong, genuine laughs. Best of all are the songs behind these fictional rock and pop stars. Keeping within the tradition set by Infant Sorrow's lascivious "Inside You" from "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and also owing a healthy debt to Rob Reiner's iconic "This Is Spinal Tap" (1984), the music is very deceptive as the songs could all pass for music that could be easily heard on the radio today. All of the songwriting is tight and presented extremely well via the highly convincing vocals by Brand. Yet once you listen to the actual lyrics, you will be blissfully amazed with their satirical filthiness, some songs ("The Clap," "Furry Walls," and all of Jackie Q's downright unfiltered and nasty nursery rhyme pop tunes) being more blatant than others.

Sean Combs is the film’s comedic smart bomb!! The character of Sergio Roma is easily and obviously inspired by Combs’ own persona, especially during the first season of his MTV series “Making The Band.” If you have seen that series, the moment that firmly comes to mind was when Combs historically, bombastically, and hysterically instructed his wannabe pop stars and starlets to venture from midtown Manhattan to Brooklyn for the sole purpose of purchasing his favorite brand of cheesecake…and ON FOOT, no less! Sergio Roma is cut from that same cloth. Every single word out of his mouth is fall down hilarious yet he also conveys a believable command over his underlings who cower at his every gaze. In many ways, Roma is also cut from the same cloth as Tom Cruise's brilliantly repugnant Les Grossman character from Director Ben Stiller’s “Tropic Thunder” (2007) as both men represent the soullessness of their respective industries where lies are the truth, money is the ultimate touchdown and humanity is nowhere to be seen. Combs nearly steals every scene that he is in and I just wanted even more from him throughout.

When Judd Apatow and his band of merry compatriots are at their wicked comic best, we are given the gift of movie comedy gold, a genre that typically does not gather much respect but is indeed one of the most difficult genres to pull off successfully. "Get Him To The Greek" is no exception as Writer/Director Nicholas Stoller mixes riotous comedy, a tender love story, even more tender male bonding and satirical swipes at all areas of the rich and famous into a terrific rock album of a movie that I believe you could enjoy under the influence or not.

Which I was not, by the way...