What do you get when you have 72 hours, 5,500 miles and the comic stylings of Russell Brand and Jonah Hill? The potential for one frickin’ hootenanny of a film called Get Him to the Greek, the anxiously awaited follow-up to 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall. This film was announced the week after Sarah Marshall debuted in theaters and everyone realized that the best part of an already great comedy was Brand’s turn as British rock star, Aldous Snow. But, with a few exceptions like Borat and “The Jeffersons,” comedy spin-offs rarely work, and Get Him to the Greek is a perfect example of a bumbling attempt to capture lightning in a bottle for the second time.

Greek stars Jonah Hill, not as a surly hotel employee but as Aaron Green, a music connoisseur working at Pinnacle Records for boss-zilla, Sergio (P. Diddy/Puff Daddy/Sean Combs). In need of a recession-proof success, Aaron convinces Sergio to resurrect wild, hard partying Aldous Snow’s career for a 10th anniversary show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Given 72 hours, Aaron has to get Aldous, who hasn’t performed since releasing the album Africa’s Child, deemed “the worst thing to happen to Africa since apartheid,” from London to Los Angeles, and as it always must for any comedy set up, high jinks ensue.

Unfortunately, writer-director Nicholas Stoller, who also directed Sarah Marshall, cooks up antics that are redundant and predictable, relying on easy layup jokes and gross-out humor peppered through a cookie-cutter script. Still, old hat can be fun when handled adeptly, but neither Hill nor Brand rise to the challenge. Brand’s Snow, a live wire the first time he appeared on screen, is stripped into a sad sack rocker with too much emotional baggage, and Hill is wasted in the role of straight man. You know something’s seriously wrong with a comedy when the funniest thing a movie has going for it is Puff Daddy, but Sean “Man of a Thousand Names” Combs steals the show as a CEO at his tyrannical best. If only he’d made Hill and Brand walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to get him some cheesecake. Surprisingly, “Damages”’ Rose Byrne, playing Aldous’ former girlfriend, also provides some of the best, most unexpected moments as a British pop star who sings Lily Allen-esque songs about anal sex.

Filled with cameos and pop culture references rather than genuine laughs, Get Him to the Greek is a disappointing case of squandered potential.

Grade: C



Get Him to the Greek releases in theaters June 4.