Not Very Funny

Rating: 4/10 (26 June 2010)

They should have called this movie "My Favorite Rock Star" because "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" director Nicholas Stoller scenarist Jason Segel look like the Peter O'Toole comedy "My Favorite Year" inspired them. Pinnacle Record President Sergio Roma (Sean Combs) is searching for a surefire hit to keep his brood of kids in Air Jordans when an intern Aaron Green (Jonah Hill of "Super Bad") suggest that they stage a comeback concert at the Greek Theater for washed up British rocker Aldous Snow (Russell Brand of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall")whose career tanked after he produced an album called "African Child." Sergio packs Aaron off on a trans-Atlantic flight to London to pick up Snow and bring him back in 72 hours. Meanwhile, Aaron and his live-in girlfriend Daphne (Elisabeth Moss of "Did You Hear About the Morgans?") are having relationship woes. She is a hospital intern who is worked so hard that she doesn't get to spend much time with Aaron. She finds a job in Seattle that would give them more time together, but it would force Aaron to look for a new job. They decide to break up and Aaron flies off to England. Of course, the comedy here is that Aldous is a drugged-out rock & roller who cannot get enough booze and narcotics into his system while straight-laced Aaron does his best to keep him off drugs and get him onto the plane. The irony is that Aaron eventually winds up doing all of Aldous's narcotics. At one point, Aaron has to stuff a ball of heroin up his anus so that the two of them can slip past the airport checkers. Aaron discovers what it is like to be a free-wheeling, drugged out guy and gets laid once in a bathroom by a woman and later is raped by a drugged out Vegas chick called Destiny who stuffs a dildo up his butt while she straddles him in bed. Indeed, poor Aaron does virtually everything to nurse maid Aldous to the concert. The jokes are not that funny and the formulaic characters are far from sympathetic, despite the fact that Aldous redeems himself and Aaron becomes Aldous' producer. Incidentally, Aaron and Daphne hook back up and make it to Seattle. Sean Combs delivers one of the funniest performances and Colm Meaney of "Con Air" isn't far behind him as Aldous' father Jonathan Snow. Kristen Bell appears in a cameo.