Get Him to the Greek and Press Lounge at Ink48

Last summer, in the tradition of Devil Wears Prada profiles in executive assistantships, Hollywood offered us the smart Funny People with Seth Rogen as a bumbling serf to a narcissistic movie star (played by) Adam Sandler. This year, we have Get Him to the Greek, a bromance chase flick with Jonah Hill as assuming geeky peon tasked with guardianship of aging rocker Aldous Snow in the hours leading up to his comeback concert. The formula for success in this new genre seems to be: 1-identifying with the assistant, whatever ambition is pushing them forward beyond this gig (here, Jonah Hill is an aspiring music producer), 2-situations displaying how the boss character is taking advantage of him/her (insisting Hill hide Aldous' heroin on the plane up his well-you saw the commercial), 3-the impact of the job on both the assistant (love life falling apart) and the destruction of the employer's own personal life, 4-resolution in which the assistant realizes his/her initial goal/moves beyond crappy job with support from the boss who recognized their ingenuity/kindness/etc.

Get Him to the Greek gives us all of these criterion, in front of some silly scenery in London, Vegas, and LA clubs. The goofy cast of bit players work well together -- most notably Puff Daddy as the ultimate label producer giving a hilarious turn. I enjoyed Get Him to the Greek, the grossout humor and send up of affected celebrities. Would have been delighted to get an even faster pace -- somewhat slowed down by sketch-nature of the plot which lessened the stakes. It is "get him to the greek" meaning the show should be the ultimate goal, not just a convenient conclusion. Still, a good one for a rowdy evening. Maybe capped with a drink at the new rooftop lounge at Ink48 in Hells Kitchen. Journey to the sixteenth floor overlooking all of Manhattan. Feel like a rock star on an assistant's salary for the price of a potent cocktail.