In viaggio con una rock star

Man, you gotta love Aldous... but love him to a point of giving him a full movie about the character? Come on guys seriously. There are times that I replay Forgetting Sarah Marshall. But after watching this I feel I'm too Aldous-overdosed to watch it again.

PRO(s)

>> Jonah Hill's occasional funny lines (because his character doesn't require to, we wouldn't have the usual foul-mouthed characters he'd previously done).

>> Sean Combs. His acting is average, but you gotta give the guy credit for being insanely-stupid funny as hell.

>> Aldous Snow's songs. Seriously, in this movie the songs are the only reasons to love Brand's character

>> The furry wall. I gotta buy me one of those. Watch this, you'll get what I'm sayin'.

CON(s)

>> Uninteresting storyline.

>> The constant party/drugs scenes that were made to cover up for the uninteresting storyline. I gotta admit without these scenes, the film will likely to take up 30 mins screen time. The story is just that simple. I don't know, the crazy-stuffs works for me most of the time, but in this movie I felt like it was a bit overused, an excuse to patch it up to 2 hrs running time. I guess I got a bit tired of the Aldous thing going on. Not like other comedies I've watched when there's a hilly-billy threesome (Harold and Kumar), stupid-crazy Cops (Superbad), or a Vegas-fuckup scene (Knocked Up). Then only crazy scene that made me laugh was the one regarding the furry wall. That aside there's just Aldous on crack.

This movie was great. I expected considering how much I enjoyed Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and how much I enjoy Jonah Hill in general. I was not disappointed. The only reason that I did not give this movie a higher rating was because it was so ridiculous and unbelievable. I could not stop laughing out loud in the theater and neither could the rest of the audience (which was decent sized for a mid week night time showing after release). If you do not like drinking, drugs, and sex than I would recommend that you do not even come close to this one. It is above the top in all three of those aspects. You may be offended by some things, but that is the whole point of the movie... enjoy it. See it soon, I foresee this one growing in popularity as word of mouth spreads. 8/10.

Opening up with the shooting of Aldos Snow's latest music video and then showing his downward spiral that leads to present day was the hilarious, perfect beginning for this innovative comedic spin-off. If you saw 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' then this is exactly what you would expect a movie about Aldos Snow to be like. This movie has a heart that I did not expect to see, it's buried under lewd, vulgar and brilliant wit, but it's in there.

Russell Brand just opens his mouth and his words are comedic gold. Jonah Hill takes a step out of his comfort zone, a bit, and plays a "no confidence good guy". (Usually he's the overconfident prick, for all you naysayers). Diddy delivers a surprisingly strong performance that I'm sure shocked anyone who sees him. He's actually hilarious! His repartee with everyone he comes into contact with is spot-on. The entire cast has hilarious one-liners and the two main characters really make this movie a joy to watch.

The plot is actually a creative one, something we don't see a lot of nowadays. Albeit the humor treads into "familiar gross-out" jokes, there are clever jokes too. But it's all you have to expect when following "Rock and Roll personified". Another point I was surprised by was that a lot... a lot of the scenes from the trailers were not in the movie. I thought that was a good and bad thing. Good because it didn't show us stuff we've already seen and gave us the chance to see new stuff. But bad because a few of the scenes were real funny.

For the critics who are hating this movie: Do you like comedy? Do you like Apatow's stuff? Do you like Russell Brand or Jonah Hill? If the answer is no to any 2 of these... why are you reviewing this movie? Your opinion is pointless for the people that actually DO like these movies.

Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) is a messed up rock star. He has a damaged relationship with his ex Jackie Q (Rose Byrne). Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) pitches an idea for a 10 year anniversary of Aldous Snow's successful Live at the Greek Theatre show to label head Sergio (Sean Combs). Aaron is given the chance to wrangle Aldous for his big chance.

The Judd Apatow friends gather together to do another hilarious movie. Russell Brand is wonderously wild and childlike. Jonah Hill is a great straight man, charmingly funny and sweet. The combo is a home run. Even P Diddy is great as the bombastic exec. Jonah and Elisabeth Moss are hilarious together in the beginning. The Sarah Marshall call back is hilarious. But it's not just all hilarity. Aldous has real personal problems and not just about the drugs. It's a wonderful mix of heart and comedy. Start stroking the fury wall.

When I saw the trailers for Greek, they looked moderately funny. I hadn't seen Sarah Marshal, so I had no idea what that was all about. But, reviews were good and I thought, hey, what the heck. What I found was a very funny Apatow-filmish take on the rock n roll film. All the elements of a usual Apatow troop film are there: focus on unusual moments, sex drugs and gross out humor, friendship and some serious moments, and the breaking down of typical film trappings. Suffice to say, this is a great summer comedy.

The film, as many know, charges Allen Green with getting washed up rock star Aldous Snow to the Greek Theater in LA for a 10th anniversary concert. As one would guess, things don't go accordingly, and a whole lot of comedy ensues. The film, more than anything, is essentially a rock pic. It's about the life of this rock star who has burned out his bulb and is attempting to put in a new one. And as Aldous Snow, Russel Brand is fantastic. He truly embodies this rock star and you feel he really IS this character. He boozes it up, drugs it up, sexes it up, and whatever other manner of things a rock star might abuse. He's a mess of a guy, and like so many famous people who have gone south, he's a complicated person who has let fame get the best of him. This is translated extremely well. Despite all the comedy, this is an excellent rock and roll biopic type film. Jonah Hill is great as the lead character with baggage of his own and he does what he does best here, although he plays a more awkward kind of character versus his geek-in- charge style that we're so accustomed too.

Stealing the show, however, is Sean Combs, who plays Green's boss Sergio. Every scene he is in is hilarious and he is surprisingly funny. It was definitely pleasant to see him pull off such a funny role. The other supporting characters are great, doing a fine job of being very funny themselves. Most of the film falls into stages of comedy bits, and all are pretty damned hilarious. There's nothing here that's too ridiculous, which is nice. There is once scene that kind of makes you raise a brow, but it's just so damn funny, you forget how insane it is. And that's really the charm of the film. Everything about it is larger than life, yet believable. This is exactly why it perfectly molds both the rock star film and an Apatow comedy so perfectly. It's the kind of comedy you would expect it to be, while not knowing exactly what is going to happen. If you don't like these kinds of comedies, this one may not be for you. But if you've enjoyed other films like Sarah Marshal, Pineapple Express, and other Apatow troop films, you'll find Greek hilarious. I know I did.