Script2Screen

Rating:
Opening today, “Get Him to the Greek” is the story of Aaron Green (Greenberg in the script), a recent college grad sent on an assigment which could make or break his career in the music industry. He must escort out-of-control rockstar Aldous Snow from London to Los Angeles for a comeback concert. Nicholas Stoller’s script (first revision) is more average than terrible, but fails to make the reader care about half its odd couple.

One problem with the script is the characterization of rocker Aldous Snow. He is purposely written as a self-centered jerk. Audiences can like characters like this; for example, “Iron Man”’s Tony Stark or television’s “House” have managed to attract fans despite their mostly unredeeming qualities. However, the script’s portrayal of Snow crosses the line between likeable jerk and flat-out asshole. The screenplay attempts to show the character’s unhealthy familial and romantic relationships, but attempts at character growth are undermined in favor of more jokes. By the end, it is almost impossibe to care whether Snow can pull himself out his downward spiral or not.

On the other hand, Aaron, is a more developed character. His motivations are fairly clear throughout and I felt invested in the character. I wanted to see him succeed and worried about what Snow would throw at him next. Aaron is at a point in his life where he needs to succeed professionally, but his adventures with Snow also provide an opportunity to grow. Snow is both temptor and mentor, seeking to lead Aaron astray, but also helping him become more spontaneous. The pair’s relationship is reminiscent of Adam Sandler’s “Anger Management”, but Aldous Snow is incapable of matching Jack Nicholson’s grand scheming.

The script manages to be boring and promising at the same time. Snow’s antics get old and I found myself trying to read faster so I could get to the inevitable moment when Snow redeems himself and the pair realize they’ve become best buds. That’s how all these types of movies always end. The majority of the jokes aren’t especially funny, but the concepts and circumstances behind them are humorous enough to allow improvement. Comedies tend to be made funnier by actors’ natural instincts and ad-libbing. I’m not generally a fan of actor Russell Brand (Snow), but I have seen enough of his and Jonah Hill’s (Aaron) work to feel confident in their ability to take the germ of a joke and riff until something funny comes out. Being a spin-off of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”, returning character Snow was obviously written for Brand and Hill’s part feels as if it was written with him in mind. It’s quite possible the screenplay’s jokes were always intended as nothing more than a framework or starting point for better jokes. Still, the written jokes are pretty bad.

The screenplay isn’t all bad. Between insincere emotion and bad jokes, there are a few bright spots of humor, mostly involving drug purchasing and use. For example, Aaron is forced to buy drugs for Snow and encounters a drug dealer almost as bad as “black Doug” from “The Hangover”. The dealer tells Aaron to place the money in a trash can and meet a guy at the end of the alley. Aaron is left waiting until the dealer appears in the alley wearing a new set of clothes and pretending to be an entirely different person. When Aaron calls him on it, the dealer complains about the economy making it hard for him to hire help. It’s situational humor. All Aaron wants is to end the transaction, but the Dealer keeps trying to talk about his problems like they’re friends. To make matters worse, the dealer is so paranoid about cops watching that he keeps the package hidden in his mouth and insists on transferring it via kiss. The whole scene is awkward and ends on a great awkward beat.

The screenplay should also get some credit for lampooning celebrity culture. Mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap” did rockstar parody better, but “Get Him to the Greek” still does a fair job of spoofing the party lifestyle of today’s celebs, including faking sobriety for the sake of improving one’s public image. Much like “Killers”, my other script review this week, “Get Him to the Greek” won’t appeal to everyone. I will probably see it, but cannot currently recommend it anywhere near as much as I did “Killers”.