Not Apatow's best, but still very funny!

Rating: 7/10 (11 July 2010)

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Judd Apatow has elevated the genre of the raunchy-comedy to something more dignified and worthwhile than a sequence of scenes designed to gross you out. Ever since the release of his directorial debut, "The 40-Year Old Virgin," Apatow has shown us that crude comedies can also have a lot of heart. The best film from the Apatow canon is "Knocked Up," which he wrote and directed, but even the films that only bear his name as a producer have that same stamp of quality ("Pineapple Express," "Forgetting Sarah Marhsall"). The lowest film (and it is a very low, so low I pretend it doesn't exist), bearing his name is the abominable "Year One," a film that Dani and I walked out of 20 minutes in. With that anomaly aside, Apatow has provided us with some of the best and funniest comedies of the 2000s, which seems only natural as he also provided us with the best TV show of the 90s, "Freaks and Geeks". Also from that show came the careers of James Franco, Seth Rogen and Jason Segel, all of whom appear in at least one Apatow film.
"Get Him to the Greek" is another solid comedy from Apatow and his team. While it never achieves the hilarity of "Superbad" or "Pineapple Express" or the heart of "The 40-Year Old Virgin" or "Knocked Up," it still provides 109 minutes of good fun and a few big laughs. The film's plot is simple enough. If you want a synopsis just check out the trailer. It tells you everything you need to know. Jonah Hill is funny enough, but he lacks the charisma and depth of both Seth Rogen and Jason Segel. He is better suited in the supporting roles he usually plays. Russell Brand is also funny reprising his role from "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" as the egomaniacal, brain-dead rock star Aldous Snow. But surprisingly, the funniest person in the movie is P.Diddy. I didn't know he could act or be funny, but he does an excellent deadpan.
This film succeeds for the same reason the other Apatow films succeed: It makes us laugh and also makes us care about whom we are laughing at. It is funny without feeling fake. So often comedies will have a character do something or act a certain way because it might be funny, but it betrays the authenticity of the character. As absurd as Aldous Snow may be, he and the rest of the characters in the film are acting out of real and identifiable human feelings and emotions, not out of a contrived and shallow script. We don't just see crude behavior for the sake of crude behavior. We understand the characters and the humanity behind what they do. And it is hilarious.