Doug (Justin Bartha) is traveling to Las Vegas with his friends Stu (Ed Helms) and Phil (Bradley Cooper) as well as his soon to be brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis). Stu’s stuck with a harridan for a girlfriend, Phil’s excited to get away from his wife and kid and Alan … well, Alan’s just got a few screws loose. They arrive at Sin City in Doug’s future father-in-law’s vintage Mercedes, do a couple of shots of Jagermeister on the roof and a few hours later, the gang minus Doug wakes up in their swank hotel room. There’s a baby in the linen closet, a tiger in the bathroom, Stu the dentist is missing a tooth, and no one has any idea where Doug is.
Thus begins The Hangover.
I think I must be the only person in America who doesn’t find Zach Galifianakis all that funny in this movie. His portrayal of Alan is one of a brain damaged, socially inept whacko who reads awkward speeches about wolf packs and has a Rain Man moment in a casino. While his performance is worth a few chuckles, he’s mostly way out there and a source of strange tension.
The real comedy of The Hangover is in the strange, absurd moments like the tiger in the bathroom or a naked man popping out of the trunk of a car and beating everyone in the vicinity with a tire iron. The constant apparitions of the unknown and bizarre keep the film lively, interesting and funny. These events are paced so well, the film doesn’t even peak early with a hilarious cameo from Mike Tyson a third into the movie.
The friends’ desperate search to find Doug in time for his wedding back in LA is comical but the payoff to the search isn’t as good as one hopes it will be. In fact, almost all the characters in The Hangover smack of buddy-comedy / road trip clichés; it’s really the variety of the absurd that makes the movie worth watching.
Worth the $9.50 a piece Younger Sister and I spent to see it, but nothing life-changing.
I liked it too, though I’m one of those who found Galifianakis pretty darned funny just for the pure absurdity and randomness of his comments.
I think what I liked most about it, was how you never really see what happened during this mythical wild night…you just hear about it in the classic “I did what??” morning-after manner.
Nice review!
Thanks! And I think the main thing is that Galifianakis is not terrible but sometimes it’s just too random, too absurd. His “blood brothers” thing was hilarious, as was his thing with calling the baby Carlos and then discovering its real name was Tyler. :D
I also thought Zach G was hilarious in his bizarre randomness. His star should skyrocket now, assuming that G-Force movie doesn’t kill it.
A lot of folks say this is better than Old School. I thought this was really funny, but don’t think it tops Old School. What do you think? I know when it’s on DVD, I will have to have a Todd Phillips weekend (sans Starsky & Hutch) to see how they all stack up.
Here’s the deal: I don’t think that The Hangover is a classic. It’s a funny movie that lives very much in the now; if it gets “legendary” status I’ll be much disappointed.
Old School is a much better movie and The Hangover owes a considerable amount to Old School. Bradley Cooper’s character is pretty much the poor man’s version of the Vince Vaughn character from Old School.
Yes, Vaughn, Wilson and Ferrell were the trifecta in Old School.