First Published: Tuesday, June 9, 2009 5:14 PM
Last Saved: Tuesday, June 9, 2009 5:19 PM
The Hangover is written surprisingly by Scott More and Jon Lucas who's previous credits include Four Christmases, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past....yikes. The film is directed by Todd Phillips who has directed Old School, Starsky and Hutch, and Road Trip. The Hangover is the ever so beaten to death story of a group of dudes going to Las Vegas before a wedding to party it up before Doug (Justin Bartha) gets hitched. Doug is accompanied by his fiance's weird brother (Zach Galifianakis), somewhat jockish in charge school teacher Phil (Bradley Cooper), and an incredibly whipped dentist named Stu (Ed Helms). They party, have fun, and wake up the next morning with no recollection of what happened.
They wake up the next morning to find Doug missing, a tiger in the bathroom, and the entire suite they are staying in in complete disarray. Phil comes up with the idea of retracing their steps so that they can find out where Doug went, as well as figure out why there was a baby in the closet.
The Hangover is really funny, more than funny, it's hysterical on so many levels. The cast is a weird group of characters. They really did a nice job with using Zach Galifianakis strong point of awkward situations.
I think the one of the stronger points of the film actually was Ed Helms. I could literally listen to him play the piano all day while singing satirical tunes. I'm glad that Jeffrey Tambor's character wasn't the stereotpyical "I'm gonna kill you" father. It made the film less cliche that way then the typical worry of, "We've got to return this car in pristine order or he's gonna kill me."
Mike Tyson also made an appearance during the film, well because it turns out that was his tiger that ended up in the suite bathroom. I really don't have an opinion of his involvement in the film at all, except when he punches Alan (Galifianakis) in the face and knocks him out, "He's still got it."
Even though Bradley Cooper has been around for almost a decade I feel I am now starting to appreciate his work, starting with Alias really. I've liked him in Yes Man, and he was great in The Hangover, I look forward to any of his comedic roles in the future.
Heather Graham was also made a nice appearance, which for some strange reason made me want to watch Swingers again. She was a nice contrast to Stu the dentist.
For some reason though, which bugs me is that this should be comedy of the year so far, but there's a voice in the back of my head telling me that I Love You Man is better....and I'm not sure why. The two films have completely different subject matter, and I Love You Man actually had a theme and a message behind it. And I really enjoyed The Hangover, something must be a glitch in my brain.
The film ends in a predictable manner, but the credits killed the audience, absolutely killed. And of course I mean the comedic version of killing. Because those fellas really don't remember what they did for a good reason.
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Beat me to the article you bastard! lol
Saw it today and it was amazing! One of the best comedies I have seen in a very long time.
'Tiges love Pepper. They hate Cinnamon'.