Get Him to the Greek 2010

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: W.C. Fields warned, "Never work with children or animals." Russell Brand and Jonah Hill can add, "Never work with P. Diddy." Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Greek might be this year's The Hangover. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The movie's a good, rude commercial comedy. How many good movies have we even seen this year? Read more

Mary F. Pols, MSN Movies: You see the serious stuff as just another bad joke. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: Much snappy dialogue keeps the far-fetched shenanigans from collapsing into stupidity, and agile performances create genuineness in the relationships. Foremost is Brand, whose wry intelligence inspires an enormously appealing presence. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Hill, dialing back on the pissy vulgarity of his supporting roles in Knocked Up and Funny People, makes the perfect foil, as passive and impressionable as Brand is reckless and impulsive. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Greek doesn't quite know when to stop, and things aren't brought to a particularly satisfying resolution. But Brand does a nice job adding a few dramatic shadings to his character, a pleasant surprise. And Hill is outstanding. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: If the movie's all too predictable in its broad outlines, it's scurrilously funny in the details, and it pushes its two leads and one of its supporting actors in entertainingly fresh directions. For early June, that's enough. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The comic premise still works like a charm. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Brand can seem simultaneously randy and strung-out and is often very funny. Hill is surprisingly touching, which is quite a feat given the number of orifices he is required to display. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: A little bit of Russell Brand can go a long way, but Greek is a fine vehicle for his mock rock-god persona. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: A veering, careening joy ride of excess and heart. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: This is personality comedy, and Brand and Hill have it to spare. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It has a rambly, realistic tone, with one orgiastic mishap spilling into the next, and that tone keeps much of the action popping with surprise. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: If the film hadn't made a beeline toward the "serious movie with a message" category we could have had another Hangover or Tropic Thunder on our hands. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Stoller ... apparently has major trust issues with his odd-couple stars, women and the audience. Did I forget anybody? Read more

Karina Longworth, L.A. Weekly: Under Apatow's direction, when boys move beyond their base desires, it's character development. Under Stoller's, it's a buzzkill. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Get Him to the Greek has some big laughs, and it scores an endless source of points by skewering the rock-star lifestyle. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: The movie's story is conventional in shape, but it has passages of crazy exhilaration and brilliant invention. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Aside from the useless gross-out scenes, Stoller and a perfectly tuned Brand get every detail right, including the seductive egomania of celebrities and the predatory fawning of their handlers. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Some of the raunchy bits are amusing, but others prove that funny doesn't automatically follow from dirty. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: The film succeeds as a music-industry satire, a very naughty version of Almost Famous. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Get Him to the Greek turns out to be the funniest hard-R comedy since The Hangover. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: A few too many grossout gags, but this is inspired lunacy, with P. Diddy (!) delivering one of the funniest performances of the year. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The reason the friendship works is that Russell Brand and Jonah Hill are good actors. Hill's character is required to be blotto half of the time, but there's the sense that he's desperately trying to do the right thing. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Making Aldous regret his wicked ways is a buzz-kill of major proportions. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: The setup isn't especially interesting or original, but the movie gets better as it goes through its paces. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: So comically fertile and yet so grounded in the reality of its characters that it's really a kind of marvel. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: There's no buildup, no narrative arc, just one scene of comically debauched partying after another. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Like the best Apatow films, this follow-up ties your emotions into the characters while your mind reels in convulsions of joy. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: It's not quite infectious, but some of the high notes manage to drown out some of the guttural lows. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: Cheerfully profane in the manner of a dormitory bull session. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: Looking for a buddy comedy with wit, heart and scatological charm to spare? Get thee to this Greek. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Nobody goes to an R-rated man-love comedy for spiritual renewal. We just want more outlandish gags. Down with the uplift; up with the suppository jokes. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: This is Brand's movie all the way: he's the one snorting the drugs, throwing the tantrums and getting the lion's share of the laughs. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: The heavyset Hill is beginning to cultivate a likable John Candy-esque appeal; playing against the surprisingly sharp Sean Combs, as a hellacious boss, he grounds the movie in approachability as the orbiting players get crazier. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The concept is inspired, and the movie has some very funny moments. But about halfway through this long weekend, the frantic tale grows flimsy. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: Barring a few lapses, the gags fly by in rapid-fire fashion, and enough of them connect -- thanks in part to the amusing mix of Hill's hang-dog demeanor with Brand's lanky, relentless hedonism. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: It's crude, loud, dumb fun. And, on top of that, it contains the greatest cameo ever by a winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. Read more

Aaron Leitko, Washington Post: It's rare that a previously established side character, no matter how well loved, can deliver the goods in his own show. Which is probably why nobody tries it with movies. Well, nobody but the makers of Get Him to the Greek. Read more