Film Review: Get him to The Greek

Get him to The Greek. 109 minutes. MA15+. Written and directed by Nicholas Stoller, from the Forgetting Sarah Marshall characters created by Jason Segel.

The world of rock ‘n’ roll – both onstage and behind the scenes – has resulted in a veritable goldmine of unforgettable films including A Hard Day's Night, The Rose, Almost Famous and This Is Spinal Tap. Something deep within the abyss between the drug-addled, booze-soaked, carnivalesque existence of rock musicians and the inspirational and unique concert performances that feed their souls, can fire an audience’s imagination like little else.

With his latest song and music video “African Child” labelled "the worst thing to happen to Africa since apartheid" and then banned, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand, pictured on the right) suddenly finds his previously lucrative career charting toward oblivion. Meanwhile, Pinnacle Records talent scout Aaron Green (Jonah Hill, pictured left) remembers a time when Snow was a big star. When Pinnacle boss Sergio (Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, pictured in the background) charges him with delivering the luckless Snow to the Los Angeles concert venue “The Greek” for a comeback concert, Aaron must race against the clock to ensure Snow makes it onstage for the most important gig of their lives.

With lashings of irreverent charm and laugh-out-loud hilarity, Get him to The Greek is a refreshingly unpretentious gem that plays it big, vulgar and broad from start to finish. The fantastic cast make absolute meals out of Stoller’s wicked screenplay, with Brand (who first played Aldous Snow in 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall), turning in a powerhouse performance as the bewildered, recalcitrant rock star. Hill is magical as the earnest but determined young talent scout, and it is this unlikely pairing that provides the film with its big-hearted, Laurel and Hardy-esque core.

Australian actress Rose Byrne does some of her best work to date as Snow’s girlfriend ‘Jackie Q’ – revealing a flawless talent for perfectly-timed comedy, while Elisabeth Moss (Peggy Olsen in Mad Men) is equally ideal as Aaron’s girlfriend ‘Daphne’. Cinematographer Robert Yeoman (Whip It) keeps us deliciously on the spot with all the action, while William Kerr and Michael Sale’s (both back from Forgetting Sarah Marshall) editing ensures the film clips along at a marvellously engaging pace.

While Stoller’s skilful and assured guiding hand certainly holds the hedonistic and narcissistic rock star world to account with some brilliant observational comedy (the 'African Child' music video and the Today Show sequence in New York are just two brilliant examples), he does so with genuine affection for the very human element that ties it all together – honesty. Yes, there is the universality of music and its power to unite us in a rare and uncommon ecstasy – but there is also the attendant power to exploit our unconditional surrender to its multi-faceted intrigues.

As Get him to The Greek powers along to the possibility of a big concert conclusion, it unexpectedly reveals itself to also be concerned with the importance and value of honesty – both to oneself and each other. As our rock star idols take to the stage and perform, they do so with the purest of intentions: to create and share with us the power of a thrillingly raw, loud and inhibition-shedding connection with honesty – both in the music and of the moment.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Geraldton Guardian.