Get Him to The Greek

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of waking up at 4:15 and walking right out the door to catchGet Him to The Greek before I had to go to work. Like most of the movie going public these days I will pay to watch anything Judd Apatow and Crew put together. But I think the reason I like Judd's work so much is because he reminds me of Kevin Smith, in that he makes R-rated comedies that have a big heart. Some will argue that Judd is better at it than Kevin, I just say Kevin was ahead of his time. Either way, I love them both and I was excited for this flick as soon as I saw the trailer...

For those of you who don't remember rock god Aldous Snow, we first met him in another Apatow production, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Only he was clean and sober in that flick and his career was soaring to new heights with his hit song, We've Gotta Do Something.

Snow steals every scene in already hilarious Forgetting Sarah Marshall, so it's exciting to see him get his own spin-off movie. And joined by the always hilarious Jonah Hill, they make a great comedy duo. In this flick we catch up with Snow several years after Marshall, he has now fallen off the wagon after a nasty break up and does enough drugs that even Keith Richards would say, "Hey, slow down, mate." Along with that his latest album African Child has been labled the worst thing to happen to Africa since Apartheid. This is where our adventure begins.

As made clear in the trailer this is a drug comedy mixed with a road comedy. But there is a moment (and I won't go into much detail here so you can experience it for yourselves) in the middle of the movie where, as my friend The Reel Rhino says, "you actually see the characters as real people." To put it another way, there is a moment where shit gets real. The movie continues to be funny throughout but it becomes a story of redemption and recovery for Snow. As for Jonah Hill's character Aaron, he comes to grips with the disillusionment he feels for the music industry and his place in that industry. Beyond that he repairs his troubled relationship with his girlfriend (played by everyones favorite First Daughter and Mad (Wo)Man, Elisabeth Moss) and helps Snow on the road to recovery.

For Jonah Hill I thought this was a a big step forward. He has proven he can bring the funny but he takes some nice dramatic turns in this and proves he can be a "leading man" even if it is not in the most traditional sense.

The serious moments in Greek are not as many as, say, Apatow's Funny People...but they are just as profound. I would call Funny People a serious movie with some funny parts and Greek a funny movie with some serious parts. And I would call you silly if you don't hit a theater soon and check this one out. It's Apatow, man...the dude can't miss! 4 1/2 helmets out of 5!!!