Bangers and mash, this is trash

Rating: 2/10 (27 May 2012)

This film is an absolute abomination. I watched it about 18 months ago and my feelings haven't yet mellowed. Brand plays a drug-addled bad-boy rock star thrown a lifeline by Combs who agrees to promote his tour, but only if the comparatively conservative Hill (whose idea it was to resurrect Brand's career) can successfully bring him half way round the world to close the deal. In my opinion, it's not necessarily the story that's mundane or just plain useless, but the miscasting.
Jonah Hill isn't nearly "mature" looking enough to pull-off his world-weary music industry marketing exec, a man-child whose apparent knowledge and appreciation of grass roots rock belies his meagre age. He displays a resigned grief at the commercialisation of rock'n'roll, but it's the dialogue of an older actor, and Hill just doesn't look convincing. Even his live-in girlfriend, a medical intern (Moss) looks old enough to be his aunt (or his mother perhaps but I don't want to go there). Some reviewers have lauded Sean Combs' foul-mouthed music promoter as deft casting, but in my opinion, he comes off looking self-indulgent. As for Russell's brand, his celebrity status is so inescapable that any attempt at playing a "character" (arguable as to whether he's more or less playing himself here) fails miserably.
The lyrics to Brand's satirical songs could have been a coup, but they too are gratuitous and self-aware. More subtlety and less canned laughter was sorely needed to float this boat, and in the end, it, like its drug-fuelled fictitious star, drowns spectacularly in its own slick puddle of sick.