‘Get Him to the Greek’: Successful Sequel

April 26, 2010 • By Rachel Dozier, The Breeze
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Hanging out with Draco Malfoy and singing the famous song “The Clap,” producer Judd Apatow (“Pineapple Express”) is at it again in his latest comedy “Get Him to the Greek.”

After 2008’s “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” grew a fan base who loved Peter Bretter’s (Jason Segel) vampire musical and Sarah Marshall’s (Kristen Bell) TV fame, director Nicholas Stoller decided to make a sequel.

This time following salacious singer Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), “Get Him to the Greek” tells the story of Aaron Green (Jonah Hill in a completely different role than he played in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”), who works for a major music company. Green’s job is to pick up Snow and get him to the Greek Theater for a 10-year anniversary concert.

That job is easier said than done when dealing with a drunk and drugged Snow. His career has gone downhill with the highly offensive album “African Child,” he has lost his wife of seven years and has broken his vows to stay clean. Green who is a big fan of all of Snow’s music (minus “African Child” of course) is eager to accept the challenge and to meet one of his idols. His main complication is his overly comfortable girlfriend Daphne Binks (Elisabeth Moss), who wants to move to Seattle. Binks, who is content with watching “like 100 hours of ‘Gossip Girl,’ ” is a nurse with irregular sleeping patterns who Green feels is “blackmailing [him] with [her] genitals.”

Once Green escapes from her clutches to get Snow, the party really starts. While not quite as funny as “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” this sequel has some great one-liners and smaller roles, such as Sergio Roma (P. Diddy), Green’s no-nonsense boss and Green’s party-loving co-worker, played by Aziz Ansari.

Some of the best lines are provided by Snow when describing his music: “Imagine an African white space Christ. That’s not me saying I’m Christ. That’s for other people to say.”

But the real comedy comes from the interactions between Snow and Green. Whether it’s Snow forcing Green to shove heroin up his butt to get through airport security or Green drinking all of the alcohol in the limo to keep Snow sober for “The Today Show,” the two are an unstoppable pair.

While normally sequels to major comedies are bad ideas (see “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde” or “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous”), “Get Him to the Greek” provides a completely different and equally hilarious story line for loyal fans.

Contact Rachel Dozier at dozierra@dukes.jmu.edu

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