Get Him to the Greek

Get Him to the Greek, a "gross-out" comedy that grosses you out but still makes you laugh and almost cry at the same time.

Budget: $40 million. I guess you could say it's slightly above average for a slapstick comedy film

Starring: Russel Brand, Jonah Hill, Sean"Diddy"Combs (Puff Daddy) and a lot of celebrities who appeared long enough for the audience to be able to recognize their faces and then the camera went to the next shot. Although Meredith Vierra really got her chance to shine, especially when she asks Russel Brand's character if he is on drugs during her interview with him. You go Meredith! I bet The View is really missing you now.

If you notice that both Russel Brand and Jonah Hill were both cast in the recent film Forgetting Sarah Marshall maybe it has to do with the fact that Get Him to the Greek is a spin off sequel to the previously mentioned movie. But an interesting fact is that while Russel Brand reprises his role as the self-destructive alcoholic/substance abusive musician Aldous Snow, Jonah Hill is cast as a completely different person. Just some food for thought.

Critical Reaction: Mostly positive. I was surprised, because recently sequels have been falling flat on their faces and Get Him to the Greek has done well both critically and commercially. As of June 17Th, 2010 according to Box Office Mojo, Get Him to the Greek has raked in $41,739,465.


Favorite critical quote: "Stoller deserves further praise for his use of Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, someone I struggle to call an actor. Maybe he's playing himself as a douche bag music exec, but he's kept in check.
Julian Roman, Movieweb.com

My reaction: You know I may be one of the few people in the country that really did not enjoy The Hangover, so it took me a little while to warm up to this film because it really is very similar in many ways to The Hangover. During the first half of the movie the dialogue was like totally vulgar and crude and almost borders being an exploitation. Heavy drinking, sex, drugs, fighting, vomiting, and Jonah Hill sticking a bag of heroine in his rectum; and there is plenty more that could be added to the list. But just when it seems like you can't take anymore and proceed to throw up on the person sitting next to you, something funny happens: you start to see Aaron Green and Aldous Snow as people not just as characters in a movie. Due to excessive and irresponsible drinking, drug usage, and tons of sex they both have lost everything. They both have also got to know each other and have developed a sense of understanding and compassion for one another. In the final scene when Aldous Snow throws him self of a roof into a pole and fractures his arm of the side of a pool, he begins to make a cloud of blood in the pool, then begins purging his emotions by begging Aaron Green for spiritual guidance and acceptance; It really was quite effective. I kind of wish I could have had a few drinks before seeing this film, maybe I would have felt the emotion just a little more. I think the ending was kind of disappointing for me because it seemed like this movie could have gotten away with all of the crude and vulgar content in the beginning of the movie had it incorporated the intellectual and emotional aspect of the latter half of the film. So ultimately I think that Jude Apataw the king of "gross-out comedies" (Thank you Roger Ebert!) has succeeded in making a quality comedy that is making a decent amount of money. There are plenty of other film makers that envision these "gross-out" comedies as being critically and commercially successful films, and often times they do. Quentin Tarentino always is able to blend blood, sex and violence with emotion, intelligence and sweetness in such a way that critics can't help but applaud his films. Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and Inglorious Bastards all bear the stamp of "graphic-but-quality" films. So overall, it was well worth spending the ten dollars (and that was with a student ID!) to see Get Him to the Greek, I just wish I did not have to endure so much in order to get to a point when I started to like the film.

Prognosis: Since Get Him to the Greek is out of the red after only it second week in wide release, I think that it will go on to make at least another $40,000,0000 world wide and will end up with roughly the same amount that Forgetting Sarah Marshall raked in ($100 million). I really don't think that a third movie within the franchise would do Jude Apataw any justice, but the idea of big box office revenue very often makes film producers do crazy things. Some critics have said that this film won't get nominated for any awards, but something tells me that either Jonah Hill or Russel Brand will receive a nomination in the lead actor in a musical or comedy award at the Golden Globes©, I guess only time will tell. I am actually looking forward to when the Hollywood Foreign Press releases the nominations in December.

references:
Roman, Julian. 16 June 2010. Movieweb. 2010.
http://www.movieweb.com/movie/get-him-to-the-greek/REDVtIDH2E55GM

Box Office Mojo. 17 June 2010. Amazon.com. 18 June 2010
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=gethimtothegreek.htm

Ebert, Roger. "Get Him to the Greek". Rogerebert.com. 2 June 2010. 18 June 2010.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100602/REVIEWS/ 100609992/-1/RSS