An Unexpected Comic Pairing Brings Laughs and Surprising Resonance to an Apatow Factory Farce

Rating: 7/10 (7 June 2010)

There are moments that are laugh-out-loud riotous and there are others that are purely head-scratching, but the net effect of this raunchy, often clever 2010 anti-buddy comedy directed by Nicholas Stoller is genuinely positive. This is his second feature after 2008's "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", which served as the introduction to Russell Brand's character, Aldous Snow, a sexed-up, heroin-abusing, non-sequitur-spouting British rock star. In this screenplay co-written by Stoller and Jason Segel (who also co-wrote and starred in "Sarah Marshall"), Aldous has been on the skids since the release of a publicly reviled album called "African Child" - denounced as the worst thing to happen to Africa since apartheid.
What's worse is that Spice Girls-inspired pop star Jackie Q, his longtime girlfriend and mother of his child Naples, has left him for Lars Ulrich, the longtime drummer for Metallica. Meanwhile, Sergio Roma, a megalomaniacal label executive, is about to release Aldous from his contract when puppyish young staffer Aaron Green comes up with the high-risk idea of a comeback concert in LA, marking the 10th anniversary of Aldous' landmark show at the Greek Theater. The rest of the story is a "Hangover"-type road movie of sorts between Aaron and Aldous, as Aaron has to fetch the rock star in London and get him to LA in time for the concert three days away. Predictably, nothing goes as planned as Aaron, in the throes of a sudden break-up with his overworked hospital intern girlfriend Daphne, gets seduced by Aldous' narcissistic excesses.
What becomes less predictable is how Stoller and Segel choose to deepen Aldous enough to give the character a sense of introspection about his besotted life, including a side trip to Vegas where he reunites with his estranged father, a guitarist for a Rat Pack tribute show who is jealous of his son's success. At the same time, Roma is in hot pursuit to make sure Aaron does his job, and everyone gets involved in a drug-fueled mêlée that should serve as the definitive anti-drug commercial. Brand completely stole "Sarah Marshall" from his cast mates, including Kirsten Bell, who played the title role and shows up in an unexpected cameo. Given this is a vehicle for his character, he manages to show more dimension to Aldous without losing sight of his hilarious comic creation (his opening video is hysterically tasteless). In a comparatively more constrained role, Jonah Hill manages to be regular-guy funny and brings surprising heart to put-upon Aaron.
Together Brand and Hill convey a convincing sense of trust between the characters despite their opposite tendencies. On the sidelines, Rose Byrne shows real comic chops as the uninhibited Jackie Q, while Elisabeth Moss of "Mad Men" makes Daphne far more than the wet rag she is set up to be in the story. Colm Meaney effectively plays Aldous' embittered father during the film's most serious scene, while Sean Combs is quite funny - in a good way - as Roma. It should come as no surprise that this whole venture was produced by Judd Apatow since his fingerprints are everywhere given all the comic and often crass male bonding throughout. Stoller's uneven direction explains the fluctuating variations in the movie's tone, and like every Apatow movie, the film runs about twenty minutes too long for the slight story being told. Brand and Hill, however, make an engaging duo no matter what.