Versus #3: Get Him to the Greek

Kilian: Get Him to the Greek is the spiritual successor to the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which I haven’t seen, starring comedian Russel Brand as rockstar Aldous Snow and Aaron Green as a record company intern named Jonah Hill. Aldous Snow is a rockstar who had his successes in the past, but who after releasing his record "African Child", which fails miserably, gets forgotten by the world. In an attempt to earn some more money, Aldous’ record company (the company were Jonah works) decides to stage a gig to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of Aldous’ big performance at the Greek in LA.
The whole movie is about Jonahs attempts to get the drinking, drug using and very depressed rockstar to the gig.

To start, I have to say I didn’t expect anything from this movie, as I didn’t see the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and so the movie was indeed a pleasant surprise. The plot is original, the actors were well chosen, and the humor was good, but I didn’t fall of my chair laughing. Russel Brand really pins his character down as the cliche derelict, drug addicted rockstar, and he drives the whole movie. Also Sean "P. Diddy" Combs needs to get mentioned. His role as the boss of the record company is great, and adds a lot funny moments to the movie.
The emotional aspect of the movie wasn’t great (quite cheesy), but it didn’t make the movie less fun to watch.

Nick: If you haven’t seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall, you should check it out. The only thing common between these two movies are the characters. This movie actually kind of let me down. There is less emotional material and there isn’t that much character development. In Forgetting Sarah Marshall the jokes are derived from the plot rather than just random jokes which are just there. Some moments in Get him to the Greek felt awkward like the scene in which Aaron Green tries to put drugs in his bottom part. There more moments which felt like throw aways. Lars Ulrich, go sue Napster… like we needed that?

On the other hand, Aldous Snow is very convincing. Unlike some other films that make a big cliche about rockstars, he really presents the rock star being not as over the top, but just plain and straight, like it should be. We do learn more about drug addiction, which helps to understand his struggle through life more.

It feels like a Judd Appatow movie in any way. It’s both dumb fun and very intelligent at the same time. I haven’t exactly figured it out why Judd Appatow is so good at making vulgar movies, but he succeeds every time. I think it’s the characters that are so great. In this movie Aaron Green and Aldous Snow are nothing like cardboard figures which we’ve seen a hundred times.

Kilian: It’s true that the characters make the movie. All the characters are caricatures and thats why they are so compelling and so great. They all have a very well defined background and personality.

I don’t really see why Aldous isn’t a cliche rockstar though. Till the point that Jonah comes in his life, all he does is sex, drugs and Rock & Roll. Sure, eventually we find out that he actually wants to do something more with his life, and that he regrets some decisions. Those things make him a lovable character, though he is a douchebag at some points in the movie.

Overall, I liked the movie, but it didn’t wow me. The characters and the plot made it a nice movie, although the cliché feel good ending and the lack of original emotional depth kept it from being a very good movie. 7/10

Nick: Aldous is indeed everything we expect from a guy like him, but he really pulls it off. Unlike the movie This is Spinal Tap, he is a more down to earth rock star and that’s something we haven’t seen really.

However, the writing in this movie isn’t just that good. We get too much Aldous Snow. He behaves in the same way more or less throughout the movie and I agree; there isn’t much emotional depth. It’s lacking so many elements that Forgetting Sarah Marshall did have.

Anyway, I had a good time. I give it a 7/10.