as opposed to what i've been reviewing lately, get him to the greek is actually available on the big screen. the question of to see or not to see may have been already answered by most people, because it was released at least two weeks ago, of course, but i thought i'd weigh in now-ish, because i can.
and i think you should see it. mostly to watch p diddy eat his own head.
no, i think you should see it. for a variety of reasons. mostly because it's interesting, and it's not trying to be something other than it is--though it might not be being what it is, either, which is where things get confusing. it's not that funny, though there are funny parts--sean combs is really really hilarious, in part because you know he's acting, because he knows he's funny, but you're kind of not sure he's acting, because he's got fire in his eyes. i like it when he's on the phone and having a shouted conversation about the snak packs being next to the go-gurts or something and his kids are dressed up like the lakers. i thought russell brand was pretty fantastic, and i thought jonah hill inhabited the part well, but...
there's a but to this film (hoo boy). like, jonah hill as the kid who bought the platform boots in 40-year-old virgin? flipping fantastic. jonah hill as the gayest and most belligerent of all the housemates in knocked up? goddamn amazing. jonah hill, period, in superbad? yeah, i really like jonah hill as the crazy devotee with no moral center, and he plays the heckity heck heck out of that character. he's like the perfect piece of toast, after your first experimental toasting, when you've tweaked the toaster dial to the exact degree, where the toast comes out golden brown and still fluffy on the inside--he's the second toasting. oh, you know exactly what i'm talking about.
but jonah hill as the nice guy? i don't know. it seems like a waste of perfectly good crazy eyes. i mean, the character that he plays is likeable, and he makes said character likeable, but hill's eyes are capable of such exquisite insanity, and he really doesn't get to unleash it at all in this film. he's playing a believable person with believable personhood, and i believe it, but i think it's a bit of a waste. not NEARLY on the scale of bill murray as polonius, or, worse yet, bill murray in broken flowers, but, yeah, a bit of a waste.
the same sort of thing is true of russell brand. now, i'm not good with names, just as a disclaimer, and though i don't understand the (quantum?) mechanics of how judd apatow is involved in get him to the greek, i do realize that senor apatow is not directly responsible for it--that is, he did not write or direct it (right???). but the russell brand character shares an aesthetic with the characters of freaks and geeks, a show that i know judd apatow is responsible for, and one that admire intensely, but at the same time kind of can't get into. it's too theoretical for me. i can't really explain how, or not without taking up way more of this page than is anywhere near necessary. if anyone objects to the idea of freaks and geeks as too theoretical, i should add that it's in good company, because the second two lord of the rings-es are also too theoretical for me...and i am totally losing track of the point here. i feel like russell brand's character is very freaks and geeks-ian--a veneer behind a veneer behind a veneer, caring and self-destructive at the same time, etc. etc., which makes for good watching but not necessarily great watching. again, i think russell brand plays the hell out of the part. not since colin firth as mr. darcy have i been so involved in watching what a pair of eyes are saying while the mouth is saying something else. and that subtlety of interaction gets played out between the brand and hill characters in a way that is...uh, really cool. i liked it especially when (i'm not going to quote this right) the hill character says, like, "you keep talking nonsense, but it doesn't sound like nonsense because you're smart, but it is*." and the relationship gives you something to think about, because the russell brand character is deep.
but then the slapstick stuff, the fantasy over-the-top bro-dom that was so good in 40-year-old virgin and superbad, seems weirdly out of place. or only not out of place because one isn't sure what should be in its place. in knocked up, this amalgam between the awesomely crass and the bizarrely sweet and true was already getting a little weird, but the bro-dom was so funny** that it made up for the feeling of imbalance; in get him to the greek, however, as with forgetting sarah marshall or pineapple express (though i did think a lot of pineapple express was really funny), the crassly funny stuff isn't funny enough to carry itself. all the bad sex that jonah hill character keeps having, the scenes featuring illicit or illegal substances, and the awkwardest threesome are relatively amusing, but not amusing enough. the best joke is when they all touch the furry wall, and it's funny, but it's not funny like paul rudd's hand tasting like a rainbow.
it's like the slapstick is the excuse by which guys allow themselves to watch judd apatow-based movies, which are about non-sexual love between men. which is a pretty beautiful thing to base a story around, plus it's interesting for women because we get to see how men think they live. but in order for the judd apatow version of the formula*** to work, the slapstick has to be good. and the slapstick in get him to the greek is adequate.
i don't know what could have gone in its place, though. just like i don't know how jonah hill's character could have been improved, or how he could have done a better job with it. i don't make movies. i just critique them, at length and probably pretty unfairly.
*that really was not the line.
**for instance, the scene in vegas, which kind of really didn't need to be there, but was so hilarious that i think i actually cried in the theater.
***i'm talking "the formula" like the one for romance novels, which isn't actually a formula (check the harlequin website if you don't believe me). rather, it's a series of ingredients combined a certain way to create a certain effect. like, i love you, man is kind of an example of a judd apatow movie, but i don't think judd apatow was involved (again, i don't think, but i don't understand the [quantum] mechanics of moviemaking, so maybe he was in the mix somewhere).
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