A
film review by James Berardinelli for ReelViews.net on June 5, 2009.
The Hangover begins and ends
conventionally but, in between, it's not afraid to go off the rails. Unlike
most so-called comedies, this one can
claim the virtue of being reasonably funny. It never tries too hard, the actors
have a good sense of comedic timing, and none of the jokes are drawn out for
too long. And, although The Hangover
doesn't have the heart of, say, Knocked
Up, it displays an affection for its characters that most comedies don't. I
wouldn't go so far as to claim the men and women populating the production are
three-dimensional but they escape the low orbit of simple caricature. There's a
little more going on here than vulgar humor and that makes The Hangover worth the price of admission.
The
film begins with a teaser: it's the day of the wedding, the groom is missing,
and his friends are in the middle of nowhere. One guy puts through a call to
the bride (played by Sasha Barrese)
and informs her that he lost her
husband-to-be and the ceremony, which is supposed to start in five hours, isn't going to happen. Cue the
flashback, which rewinds events 48 hours. Now we meet the principals before
their fateful bachelor party trip to Las Vegas. There's Dead Man Walking Doug (Justin
Bartha), his best friends Phil (Bradley
Cooper) and Stu (Ed Helms), and
his soon-to-be brother-in-law, Alan (Zach
Galifianakis). The goal is for them to drive to Vegas, spend the night
gambling and drinking, and then go home the next day. Things don't go according
to plan.
When
Phil, Stu, and Alan awaken the next morning in their $4200-a-night suite, the
place is a mess. A woman slips out the door before anyone else is conscious. A
chicken is on the loose and there's a tiger in the bathroom. And whose baby is
in the closet? Phil is wearing a hospital arm band. Stu has lost a tooth and
gained a stripper named Jade (Heather
Graham) for a wife. Meanwhile, the center of the action, Doug, is missing
(along with his bed's mattress). When the bewildered trio (with infant in tow),
who can't remember anything about the night before, take a claim check to the
hotel's valet, he brings them a cop car - not the ride they arrived in. All
this happens before a tire iron-wielding naked Chinese guy and Phil
Collins-singing Mike Tyson make
appearances.
The Hangover, directed by Todd Phillips (Old School), with a similar flare for the profane and potentially
offensive, is as cleverly constructed as a comedy of this sort can be. The bulk
of the film consists of Phil, Stu, and Alan attempting to reconstruct the lost
night by following clues and re-connecting with people they don't remember (but
who remember them). The humor grows out of these situations, and most of it is
not of the intellectual variety. The
biggest laugh results from a scene that's in the trailer, although it is
funnier in context than it is as a snippet designed to lure people into the
theater. The Mike Tyson cameo is truly bizarre, and it takes on an almost
macabre air after the real-life tragedy that has recently befallen him. In the Air Tonight is now cinematically
wedded not only to Tom Cruise and Rebecca DeMornay but to Tyson as well.
The
lead actors play familiar types. Bradley Cooper, probably the most recognizable
name in the cast (not counting Tyson) is the leader of the pack, although he
avoids the asshole vibe that many
such characters give off in other, similar films, thus making Phil more
appealing than one might expect from such a slick individual. Stu is a nerd out
of his depth who's tethered by a cell phone to his controlling girlfriend (Rachael Harris) back home. Ed Helms
plays him like a refugee from a Judd Apatow film. Finally, there's overweight
and socially awkward Alan, whose personality Zach Galifianakis milks for humor
without voiding the character of all vestiges of humanity. Alan is weird in
ways that are sometimes uncomfortable, and that's where about 50% of the
movie's comedy originates.
The Hangover is
unapologetically R-rated, although it's not as shocking as other recent raunchy
comedies that have pushed the envelope. The majority of the nudity is provided
by guys because, as is generally acknowledged, the naked male form is funnier
than the naked female form. There is drinking and drugs, profanity, and bodily
fluids, but nothing we haven't been exposed to before. The purpose of The Hangover isn't to boldly go where no
comedy has gone before (although there is a subtle but unmistakable nod to Star Trek in the line I'm a doctor, not a tour guide), but
simply to make audiences laugh. With so many comedies becoming increasingly
less funny as a result of the rise of lazy, uninspired writing, that's a worthy
goal. For a viewer in the mood for something rude, crude, and lewd, it would be
difficult to find a more satisfying food. [Berardinelli’s rating: *** out of 4]
Labels:
comedy
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