Alongside the R-rated debauchery that is requisite in any Judd Apatow-produced comedy, “Get Him to the Greek” offers quite a few life lessons along the way.

Example: When the party gets out of control, just take a deep breath and pet the fuzzy wall.

British comedian Russell Brand stars as the horny, drug-riddled rock star Aldous Snow, who first appeared so memorably in the 2008 comedy, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” This time around the plot is almost obscenely simple: Record company upstart Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) has three days to get the drug-addict has-been from London to Los Angeles for a 10-year anniversary concert of his career-defining Greek Theater performance.

Aldous doesn’t go quietly. In one hilarious bit after another, Aaron tries to keep the rocker sober enough to travel, all while maintaining some semblance of dignity in the public eye.

Even though Jonah Hill vomits more often on film than anybody probably wants to see, “Get Him to the Greek” offers much more than cheap laughs about spoiled celebrities and their indecent behavior. Writer/director Nicholas Stoller (who also directed “Sarah Marshall”) has anchored the film’s antics with fully realized, believable characters.

Brand could have easily resorted to caricature, but Aldous is much more than a vehicle for jokes. He’s a talented, smart and genuinely decent man, but his addictions have turned him into an insufferable fool. The movie generates laughs out of his reckless ways only as long as Aaron tolerates him. From there, “Get Him to the Greek” takes a surprising turn, and Brand and Hill convincingly navigate the heavier material.

Some have criticized the middle portion of “Get Him to the Greek” as being too repetitive, and that there are too many scenes of Aldous and Aaron’s extreme partying. But without that feeling of tedium, the film can’t take the twists and turns to make it so much more than standard buddy comedy fare.

“Get Him to the Greek” also benefits from strong supporting work from “Mad Men” star Elisabeth Moss as Aaron’s overworked girlfriend, and especially music mogul Sean Combs (aka P. Diddy) as Aaron’s megalomaniac boss. His performance is so over-the-top hysterical, he most certainly deserves his own spin-off movie.

This type of hard-R material isn’t for everyone, but “Get Him to the Greek” is unique in how it depicts, and sympathizes with, the hard knocks of celebrity culture. It’s easy to take shots at wasted rock stars as they collapse on their own egos (think Britney Spears’ head-shaving incident or the last five years with Lindsay Lohan). It’s much more difficult to humanize them and actually depict their struggles as the tragedies they really are.

“Get Him to the Greek” is too funny to be tragic, but it offers something more than puke and rock music. And while it doesn’t make sense right now, just trust me about the fuzzy walls.

Grade: A-