Get Him to the Greek

Plot

In 2009, British rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) releases an album and a titular single, "African Child", which is a commercial and critical failure. In an interview, Aldous' girlfriend, Jackie Q (Rose Byrne), drunkenly declares they have a boring life. Aldous relapses, ending their relationship. He also loses custody of his son, Naples. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) works as a talent scout at Pinnacle Records, a record company. He lives with his girlfriend, Daphne (Elisabeth Moss). Pinnacle Records is performing poorly, and the head of the company, Sergio Roma (Sean Combs), asks for ideas. Aaron suggests that Aldous play at the Greek Theatre on the tenth anniversary of a performance there in 1999.

Sergio sends Aaron to London to escort Aldous to Los Angeles. Daphne informs Aaron that she has received a job offer in Seattle and that they are moving there. They argue and apparently break up. Aaron meets Aldous and learns that he had not been expecting him, thinking that the concert was not for two months. They bar-hop across the city as Aaron tries to get Aldous to catch a flight to New York. Daphne calls Aaron to apologize, only to learn that Aaron believes they broke up. While partying, Aaron's phone accidentally calls Daphne, informing her of Aaron's activities. Aaron and Aldous travel to New York for Aldous's appearance on Today. To keep Aldous sober, Aaron imbibes all of Aldous's whiskey and marijuana. While performing live on Good Morning America, Aldous is unable to remember the lyrics to his recent song, "African Child", and replaces it with an old hit, "The Clap", to cheers from the audience.

During their flight to Los Angeles, Aaron learns that Aldous has become depressed, as he misses his son and has been alienated from his own father, Jonathan (Colm Meaney), for years. Aaron suggests he visit him after the show; instead, Aldous insists they go to Las Vegas to see Jonathan. Sergio hooks up Aaron with a sexually violent girl, Destiny (Carla Gallo), who takes him to a hotel room and rapes him. After Aaron tells Aldous that he has been raped, Aldous gives him drugs to calm him down. Aaron starts to have a bad trip and believes he is having a heart attack. Jonathan agrees Aaron is having a heart attack, while Aldous attempts to calm Aaron down. Aldous fights with Jonathan; Sergio jumps into the fight, inadvertently setting the lounge on fire.

Aldous attempts to help Aaron by giving him an adrenaline shot. They run out of the hotel, chased by Sergio. Aldous and Aaron flee to Los Angeles, where Aaron convinces Aldous to visit Jackie Q. Jackie has been sleeping with Metallica's drummer, Lars Ulrich (playing himself), and confesses that Naples is not actually Aldous' biological son. Meanwhile, Aaron goes to his home to apologize to Daphne. They are interrupted when Aldous arrives and proposes that they engage in a threesome. Daphne agrees and Aaron hesitantly goes along. Aaron angrily decides to kiss Aldous, ending the threesome. Daphne and Aaron both immediately regret it, and Aaron angrily tells Aldous to go, criticizing his mental state. Instead of preparing for his show, Aldous goes to the rooftop of the Standard Hotel, and calls Aaron, threatening to jump. Aaron rushes to the hotel and attempts to talk Aldous down.

Instead, Aldous jumps into a pool several floors down, breaking his arm. Aldous tells Aaron that he is lonely, sad, and embarrassed, but Aaron reminds Aldous that thousands of fans love him and are waiting to see him. Aldous decides to perform at the Greek Theatre, even though Aaron pleads for him to go to the hospital. Upon their arrival, Sergio offers Aaron drugs to give to Aldous so he will not cancel the concert. Aaron, tired of Sergio's abuse, quits on the spot. Aaron walks stage-side with Aldous, trying to convince him to go to the hospital. However, Aaron sees how happy Aldous is while performing and heads home to reconcile with Daphne. Months later, Aldous, sober again, has returned to fame with a single (produced by Aaron) based on events from their night in Las Vegas.

Cast

Cameo guest stars

Brand's friends Karl Theobald, Greg "Mr Gee" Sekweyama and Jamie Sives also appear in the film.

Development

A week after the release of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Universal Studios announced a new film Get Him to the Greek, reuniting Jonah Hill and Russell Brand with writer/director Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow. Variety initially announced the project would focus on "fresh-out-of-college insurance adjuster (Hill) who is hired to accompany an out-of-control rock star (Brand) from London to a gig at L.A.'s Greek Theatre." In July 2008, Brand mentioned that he would be reprising his Aldous Snow role from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in a new film from Apatow in which the character was back on drugs.

In an interview with CHUD.com, Apatow would later reveal that Get Him to the Greek was indeed a spin-off of Forgetting Sarah Marshall with Brand again playing a no-longer-sober Aldous Snow while in a different interview Nicholas Stoller said that Jonah Hill will play a different character named Aaron Green, a young music executive.

Filming

While Brand was backstage at the Paramount studio lot preparing to present the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, he approached Christina Aguilera, Pink, and Katy Perry about filming cameos for Get Him to the Greek.

Rehearsals began on April 27, 2009 and filming began on May 12 of that year. The film was shot in New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and London. While filming in Trafalgar Square, Brand was pushed into a fountain by a passerby.

Box office

Get Him to the Greek grossed $61 million in the United States and Canada and $30.3 million overseas bringing its worldwide total to $91.3 million, against a production budget of $40 million.

In its opening weekend, the film debuted second at the box office behind Shrek Forever After with a gross of $17.6 million. The film fell to fourth the following week with a weekend gross of $10.1 million.

In the UK, Get Him to the Greek opened at No. 1 grossing £1.6 million in its first week before dropping to No. 2 the following week with takings of £1 million.

Critical reception

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes Get Him to the Greek has an approval rating of 72% based on 191 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Thanks to a suitably raunchy script and a pair of winning performances from Jonah Hill and Russell Brand, Get Him to the Greek is one of the year's funniest comedies." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 65 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, writing: "under the cover of slapstick, cheap laughs, raunchy humor, gross-out physical comedy and sheer exploitation, Get Him to the Greek also is fundamentally a sound movie."

Home media

A 2-disc and 1-disc unrated and theatrical version of the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on September 28, 2010.

Soundtrack

Kim Garner, the senior vice president of marketing and artist development at Universal Republic Records, said that Brand and Universal Pictures "felt very strongly about doing something like this as opposed to a traditional soundtrack," and that they "wanted to release it like we would an actual rock band's album."

The following songs were featured in the film, but not included in the soundtrack: