Rated R (Pervasive Language, Sexual
Content Including Nudity, and Some Drug Material)
Running Time: 1 Hour & 40
Minutes
Cast:
Bradley
Cooper-Phil Wenneck
Ed
Helms-Stu Price
Zach
Galifianakis-Alan Garner
Justin
Bartha-Doug Billings
Heather
Graham-Jade
Ken
Jeong-Leslie Chow
Rachael
Harris-Melissa
Jeffrey
Tambor-Sid Garner
Sasha
Barrese-Tracy Garner
Mike
Tyson-Himself
Jernard
Burks-Leonard
Mike
Epps-Black Doug
Bryan
Callen-Eddie Palermo
Directed by Todd Phillips
 |
| 'Crazy night' would be a massive understatement for these three friends in Todd Phillips' "The Hangover." |
SOME SPOILERS FOLLOW! Doug Billings (Justin Bartha) is getting married in two days so his friends, Phil Wenneck (Bradley Cooper), Stu Price (Ed Helms), and his soon to be brother-in-law Alan Garner (Zach Galifianakis) take him to Las Vegas in an attempt to throw him the wildest bachelor party ever. The four friends decide to get the most expensive suite at Caesar’s Palace and after a rooftop toast, wake up the next morning with absolutely no recollection of what happened during the previous twelve hours. The entire suite has turned into a wreck, with a tiger in the bathroom, someone’s crying baby in the closet, Stu missing a tooth, and worst of all, Doug has gone completely missing! Phil gathers his remaining two friends in an attempt to retrace their steps and find Doug but learns that their wild night was beyond anything they could’ve imagined as they get into one ridiculous situation after the other.
When I originally viewed the trailer, my first impression was that of another throwaway, clichéd R-rated comedy and while the film begins conventionally, Philips smartly jumps over the groups expected raucous activities, leaving it a mystery for both the audience and the characters. This is precisely what makes “The Hangover” so outrageously hilarious, with everyone trying to piece together what happened and finally coming full circle by the film’s end. The second half falters somewhat with the inclusion of a standard kidnapping plot, and you know that the three friends will eventually find Doug and make it to the wedding but these are minor quibbles compared to the payoff during the end credits. If there was any major flaw that I would point to is that the revelation of where Doug was all this time was a bit of a letdown and came too easily, almost as if the filmmakers were in a rush to wrap it up.
Most of the success comes from the odd mix of characters gathered on-screen and while other films derive their comedy when they don’t work together, there are much more laughs when they do as the three friends are put through the gauntlet, getting hit by cars, beat up by thugs, tasered by children and mauled by a tiger. Phil is the former ‘cool guy’ who has settled into a rather mundane life with a wife and child, and he keeps the group together as the situations seem to grow more outlandish. Cooper is essentially playing the straight man role with a slight air of arrogance, a school teacher who seems to have no qualms about stealing from his students for a fake trip. He doesn’t seem too appreciative of the life he’s built, longing for the freedom from before he was married but predictably, changes his tune by the film’s end. Stu is much more memorable thanks to Ed Helm’s performance, a dentist that is so dominated by his controlling girlfriend, Melissa (Rachael Harris) that he can’t even make his own decisions and freaks out at everything. We learn that he’s planning to actually propose to Melissa but Doug reveals that she had cheated on him before with a bartender, to which Stu replies that ‘he didn't even come inside her’ and that it was ‘a good thing [because] she's afraid of semen.’ As he retraces his steps, Stu learns that he had inadvertently married a stripper named Jade (Heather Graham) but technically, she’s more of an escort! Worst of all, she’s wearing his grandmother’s Holocaust ring, the same ring that he was going to use to propose to Melissa. Of course, Alan, being the eccentric, possibly mentally-ill weirdo, says aloud, ‘I didn’t know they gave out rings at the Holocaust.’
Speaking of Alan, Zach Galifianakis steals every scene in the movie and no matter how crazy his behavior gets, everything he does is pure comedic gold. During the drive to Vegas, he says that counting cards is frowned upon similar to ‘masturbating on an airplane’ but it’s now illegal since 9/11 because ‘everybody got so sensitive.’ Later on when he finds the baby in the closet, he mimes the baby masturbating and exclaims, ‘He's jackin' his little weenus! Not at the table, Carlos!’ Some may find it in poor taste but I couldn’t help but laugh. There’s also a reference to “A Beautiful Mind” when Alan turns out be a mathematical savant and uses his ability at the blackjack table. What makes Galifianakis’ character stick out is his sincerity in playing a spaced-out simpleton who at times amazes us with his calmed logic, such as when a panicked Stu screams that Doug ‘is probably face down in a ditch right now with a meth head butt-f*cking his corpse,’ to which Alan replies, ‘That's highly unlikely.’
Most of the laughs come from the first half of the film as the group is arrested for stealing a police vehicle and to get out of jail time, Phil negotiates a deal where they ‘volunteer’ to be in a demonstration in the use of tasers. Sure, one of them gets hit in the nuts but it’s the fact that children are the ones tasering them that makes it funny. Later, they manage to retrieve Doug’s prized Mercedes, only to discover a naked Chinese man in the trunk, who promptly attacks them with a tire iron. The man is later revealed to be a mobster named Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong), but he soon wears out his welcome with his over-the-top, juvenile performance that stereotypes both Asians and homosexuals. Although the second half begins to lose steam as there are too many lulls between the laughs, “The Hangover” makes up for it with a hilarious appearance from Mike Tyson and a slideshow of pictures during the end credits that reveals what happened during the group’s wild night. Some of it even borders on NC-17 and will leave some viewers wondering if they saw what they really thought they saw!
“The Hangover” is another film that took everyone by surprise, earning a solid 78% on Rotten Tomatoes, with professional critics citing a ‘clever script and hilarious interplay among the cast.’ Made on a relatively low budget of $35 million, the film opened #1 at the box office with $45 million, just edging out Pixar’s “Up” and stayed there for two weeks. Currently, it has grossed $194 million domestic and $224 million worldwide, making the film a rousing success for Warner Brothers. It was a full house at the theater when I saw the film last night (surprising, since it has been out for over a month now) and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. So far, the drops have been rather minimal, similar to “Star Trek,” thanks to positive word-of-mouth, while other more highly anticipated films have faced a 60% or more drop off in the second week of release. At first glance, “The Hangover” may look like another forgettable R-rated comedy with a trite concept but Todd Philips manages to take this concept and give it a twist, resulting in hilarious situations thanks to the chemistry between the three main characters that overshadows its weaker second half and some of its more juvenile/stereotypical humor. Guaranteed, this is the most fun you’ll have at the theater this summer!
Final Rating: 4 out of 5
"What do tigers dream of when they take their little tiger snooze? Do they dream of mauling zebras, or Halle Berry in her Catwoman suit? Don't you worry your pretty striped head, we're gonna get you back to Tyson and your cozy tiger bed. And then we're gonna find our best friend Doug, and then we're gonna give him a best friend hug. Doug, Doug, oh, Doug, Dougie, Dougie, Doug, Doug! But if he's been murdered by crystal meth tweakers, well then we're sh*t out of luck."
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