Get Him to the Greek (15) *** (From Bournemouth Echo)

Get Him to the Greek (15) ***

11:11am Friday 25th June 2010 in

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SUPPORTING characters can make a film. James Bond wouldn’t have his licence to thrill without diabolical villains Jaws and Oddjob or alluring sex kittens Honey Ryder and Pussy Galore.

Darth Vader’s heavy breathing booms across the Star Wars universe and Batman would be little more than a bored billionaire in fancy dress without the demented Joker.

Gollum was precious to the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey wouldn’t be quite as epic without omnipresent computer HAL-9000.

However, these characters linger on the periphery for a reason: we love their eccentricities in small, concentrated doses.

Get Him to the Greek foolishly promotes a supporting player – Russell Brand’s egotistical rock star Aldous Snow from the 2008 relationship comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall – to centre stage in his own film.

You can have too much of a good thing and we have our fill of Aldous’s sexist outbursts well before the first hour.

After years of dizzying success, Aldous releases the album African Child, which is lambasted by critics.

Soon after, the singer breaks up with girlfriend Maggie Q (Rose Byrne) and falls into disrepute in London.

During a pitch meeting with crazed record company supremo Sergio (Sean Combs), underling Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) hits upon the brilliant idea of a 10th anniversary comeback concert to celebrate Snow’s most famous live outing at the legendary Greek Theater in Los Angeles.

Sergio eventually agrees and issues his minion with an ultimatum: “From the moment you touch down, you have 72 hours to get Aldous to the Greek.”

Unfortunately, Aldous loves to party, leading to a series of debauched encounters that jeopardise Aaron’s relationship with his girlfriend. Get Him to the Greek is a filthy-minded road movie pairing a sweet, lovable everyman with a swaggering lech.

Writer-director Nicholas Stoller contrives some sporadically hilarious sequences but he also pads out the running time with dull interludes.

Like the LP which takes the lustre off Aldous’s glittering career, Get Him to the Greek hits too many bum notes.