Sometimes you get so into a television show that it can be difficult to accept its stars in other roles. You might not understand that, say, Ed Westwick isn’t a possibly deceased playboy and hotelier, or that Jason Alexander isn’t George Costanza but rather a KFC spokesman. On Mad Men, Elisabeth Moss’s Peggy Olson is all quiet dignity and chilling workaholism, and it sounds like the actress’s role in this weekend’s Get Him to the Greek, a “ribald comedy†starring Russell Brand as a British rocker, isn’t a far cry from Peggy Olson. A.O. Scott describes Moss’s character in the film, Daphne, as “a busy medical resident who does not have much time for her man,†much like diligent, independent Peggy. The director, Nicholas Stoller, even treats women a bit like Sterling-Cooper does:
“It is basically a ribald road picture, with … not much for women to do that allows them to be funny in their own right. They are around to be ogled and exploited, and also sometimes to provide emotional sustenance, a duality that makes this movie both a hymn to, and a subversion of, the ideal of heterosexual monogamy.â€
Still, Scott notes that the film “confines Ms. Moss, so soulful and complicated in ‘Mad Man,’ [OMG, sic!] to the duties of being the foil of a foil.†Also, Moss’s onscreen flame is Jonah Hill, who, let’s face it, is no Pete Campbell.