Not Funny

I’ve tried watching this trailer a couple of times now, and I can only focus on one thing, which is that Jonah Hill has become such a wildly out-of-control beach ball that his appearance is getting in the way of his shtick. It’s obviously okay or even de rigeur for a comedic actor to be “the fat guy,” but Hill has become the “working-on-a-heart-attack guy” or “the guy who’s shooting for John Candy status when he hits his 40s.”

Hill’s Superbad physique was relatively svelte compared to how he looks now. You think one or two of his Judd Apatow pallies would stage an intervention, but I guess they’d rather be cool and low-key about it, just like Harry Nillson‘s “friends” never forced the issue about his alcoholism.

The film is called Get Him To The Greek (Universal, 6,.4,). Nicholas Stoller directs from a script he co-wrote with Rodney Rothman. Russell Brand, Rose Byrne, Sean Combs and Elisabeth Moss costar with Hill.

30 thoughts on “Not Funny

  1. Disagree. Go to 1:18 in the YouTube trailer above. That half-second shot of Hill tripping balls is the funniest image ever. I laugh every time I see it (which is every time I go to the movies, because this trailer has played before the last 30 things I’ve seen.)

  2. Lets be real. If Hill lost 75-100 pounds, he’d also lose 95% of the movie roles he gets, and his career would be in the toilet. Fat, goofy looking guys are in big demand.

  3. If forced to choose, I’ll take the pure expressions of revulsion over the crabbed attempts at humanitarian “concern” for Hill. Just because the former ring much truer.

  4. I just don’t understand why Russell Brand is the same character as in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” but Jonah Hill is now somehow a new character. IIRC, wasn’t his “Marshall” character trying to fob off a CD of his band onto Brand? Why not just have Hill be THAT character, having somehow wormed his way into show-business? It’s already a half-sequel to “Marshall” anyway; why not just go whole hog? That, combined with the fact that this looks like a turd waiting to poke out this summer, irritates me.

  5. The “Are you kidding around” bit at the end of the first trailer cracks me up. Jonah Hill’s delivery is great, but I wonder if it would play as well if he was slimmer.

  6. Poor guy has gained even more weight since filming Greek, (see pics of him at “Dragon Train” premiere). Honestly, the stress of success is doing him in. Jeff is right. We should send him a “Get thin, soon” card.

  7. And Jonah Hill has just been cast to play the slim Paul DePodesta in Moneyball, reportedly finally shooting this summer with Brad Pitt.

  8. Russell Brand is funny. Check out this excellent routine. Some of the jokes are UK-centric, but just know he’s talking about a convicted child murderer/molester and The Sun tabloid newspaper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1uhmnNnmL8

    Plus he did a decent show way back when he hung around with some members of the far-right British National Party and exposed some of their more heinous attitudes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGDFFQxawxI

    He’s funny.

  9. The retro MIAMI VICE stubble thing can go away again, please. It’s especially unattractive on a guy with that much chin.

    Stoller really loves the MEAN STREETS face-cam, doesn’t he?

  10. The stubble is fat guy camouflage, he would look even fatter if he shaved. The, apparently retracted, Oliver Hardy comparison wasn’t much of an exaggeration.

    Jonah Hill at the above mentioned How Train Your Dragon Premiere:

    http://tinyurl.com/yanxhlj

  11. The thing with these fat dudes is, no matter how much weight they lose, they’re still fat. I don’t care how skinny Rogen gets, I still think FAT when I see him, same with Al Roker. Hill could stand to lose 100 lbs and he’d still be “fat and funny.”

    I saw him at Hugo’s on Santa Monica Blvd a few months ago and he was an absolute balloon. It’s embarrassing.

  12. Can’t wait for the sequel “Get Him to the Doctor”, where they spend the whole movie trying to force Hill to get his cholesterol checked.

  13. @ jse33: I love it… good one.

    Both he and Brand look really unpleasant in this trailer, for different reasons. Movie looks repellent.

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