Russell Brand's bit-part rock star takes centre stage in this misfiring comedy, writes DAMON SMITH
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 a 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 (15) 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 has elapsed.
After years of dizzying success, Aldous releases the album African Child, which is lambasted by critics. One deems it the third worst thing to happen to Africa after war and famine.
Soon afterwards, the singer breaks up with girlfriend Maggie Q (Byrne) and falls into disrepute in London.
During a pitch meeting with crazed record company supremo Sergio (Combs), underling Aaron Green (Hill) hits on 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.
Despite initial reservations, Sergio eventually agrees and issues his minion with an ultimatum: "From the moment you touch down, you have 72 hours to get Aldous Snow to the Greek."
Unfortunately, Aldous loves to party, leading to a series of debauched encounters that jeopardise Aaron's relationship with his girlfriend, Daphne (Moss).
Get Him To The Greek is a filthy-minded road movie pairing a sweet, lovable everyman with a swaggering lech, who asks for Aaron's honest opinion of African Child and when he gets it, responds icily: "There's a layer of respect, admittedly, for your truthfulness, but it's peppered with hate."
Rapport between the leads is lukewarm, giving Combs the opportunity to scene steal as the bullish music maven with a large family to support.
Writer-director Nicholas Stoller contrives some sporadically hilarious sequences, including an hallucinogenic brawl at a Las Vegas casino, and the songs and music videos for Aldous and Maggie Q are a foul-mouthed delight.
However, he also pads out the running time with dull interludes such as Aldous' reunion with his father (Meaney) and a threesome involving Daphne that leaves us feeling uncomfortable. Like the LP that takes the lustre off Aldous's glittering career, Get Him To The Greek hits too many bum notes.
