The Hangover
BY Ryan LaMarca / 2009-06-13
More often than not, raunchy comedies tend to be just plain awful. The trailers for "The Hangover" did not impress me in the slightest, and then I happened to learn it was from the director of terribly unfunny movies like "Old School" and "School for Scoundrels." The movie already had two strikes against it. Was I ever surprised and impressed with how hilarious "The Hangover" turned out to be.
Setting out to Las Vegas to attend a bachelor party for their friend Doug (Justin Bartha), Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) are ready to have a night they will never forget. The only problem is they get so drunk that they can't remember a thing that happened the night before. As they wake up the next morning, Doug is missing, there's an abandoned baby left in the room along with various other animals, Stu is missing a tooth, and Phil had been admitted to the hospital, among other things. With Doug's wedding a day away, the guys need to figure out what happened and find their friend.
"The Hangover" does many things right in its insane and zany script. Some things come across as just too much while others take off to comedy gold. It's an irregular phenomena to find something so funny anymore, and usually there's only one or possibly two movies like this that come out in a year. It's a case where the stupidity in the concept and execution turns out to be smarter than anyone realizes, and as a result, it comes up with some of the most outrageous bits with unpredictable results.
As previously stated, there are a few things in "The Hangover" that probably cost the movie a potential fourth star. Most of these are chronicled in the trailer. Something about chickens and a tiger roaming throughout the hotel room as these drunken men begin to wake up just seems like too much. As does the inclusion of Mike Tyson, who happens to be the owner of said tiger. He promptly knocks out one of the guys. This type of humor skews too lowbrow or just too random and non sequitur for my tastes, but luckily for the number of bad jokes in "The Hangover," there are at least double the amount of side splitting ones.
The film is incredibly raunchy, but it's also incredibly funny, and that's for two reasons: the quality writing in the script and the very talented actors playing in the movie. The interplay between these three guys is a treasure because each has their own quirky personality that clashes with the others. Phil is the smart-alecky conniver, Stu is the overly cautious one that doesn't quite fit in, and Alan is completely out of his mind. But Alan, I suppose, is also that typical comedy character who behaves obnoxiously and says stupid things. However, in this movie, not only are his antics actually funny, the response from his companions, usually negative, is even funnier.
Another key to success in "The Hangover" is the set-up of the film. We see the end results of the wild party night, but not the actual revelry itself. This leaves a little bit more to the imagination, making the discoveries along the way one better than the next. Had they decided to show us everything that had happened during the night, it would have lost all sense of comic ingenuity. Just like the characters themselves, we don't know the exact happenings of the night.
Just know this: "The Hangover" is a funny movie, so go see it. Any further attempt on my part to explain why the movie is as funny as it is will only ruin some of the great jokes placed throughout the 100 minute run. Additionally, it succeeds in being a well-rounded comedy film that doesn't go for the typical jokes, but rather to strange new places. The movie is actually more complex and well written than I ever could have imagined, and the talented and hilarious actors involved help to elevate "The Hangover" to a top notch comedy.
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