Film Review: The Hangover

Ever have one of those nights where you have a lot of fun, but a lot more booze? Y’know, the kind of night where you seem to run on auto-pilot because your memory succumbs to the barrage of alcohol well before your body does?

It’s happened to the best of us at one time or another and it’s the premise behind the surprisingly intelligent comedy hit The Hangover. Rather than see the cast’s drunken exploits as they unfold during a night out in Sin City, we get to join them as they awake the following morning and try to figure out where their missing friend has gone and why their hotel room contains a crying baby and a live tiger.

Doug (Justin Bartha) is about to tie the knot in Los Angeles. But before he goes through with his nuptials, his friends Phil and Stu (Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms) and his soon-to-be brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis) join him in Las Vegas for the obligatory celebration of bachelorhood. With a plot set up like that, you’d expect there to be a whole lot of liquor and lap dances, but The Hangover provides an unexpected and welcomed departure from the “frat pack” genre by focusing instead on the misfortune of the hapless characters. The audience is only witness to the first drink of the group’s debauched evening, but we’re faithfully present the following morning as they awake in the disaster that is their $4,200-a-night luxury suite. Phil, Stu, and Alan miserably greet the day with head-splitting hangovers and no recollection of anything that transpired the night before. A quick inventory of their suite yields a crying baby in a closet, a live tiger in the bathroom, and absolutely no sign of Doug the groom. Oh, and Stu—a dentist by trade—is missing a tooth. With only these clues in front of them, the remaining three spend the rest of the film trying to piece together the previous night’s events. Time is of the essence as they retrace their steps—and ward off the suspicions of their significant others—in an attempt to find Doug and get him back to L.A. in time for his wedding ceremony.

To be sure, some of The Hangover’s humor lands with audible thuds, and there’s a fair share of puerile jokes (a child tasering someone’s testicles and an offensively stereotypical Chinese character played by Ken Jeong come to mind). But these prove to be the exception to the rule, as director Todd Phillips has bested Old School and crafted a uniquely clever tale about the many, many things that can go wrong during a night of heavy drinking. The film would have been dull and brainless if it had simply chronicled the hijinks of a night in Vegas. Instead, we get to see some drunkard detectives put their sleuthing skills to the test to find their friend. Galifianakis shines as the dim-witted and eccentric brother-of-the-bride. His caricature is nothing new to this brand of film, but he manages to breathe new life into the type of role that has been run into the ground in recent years by the likes of Will Ferrell and Jack Black. Cooper and Helms are equally funny, although neither one is as memorable as their bearded co-star. Even an unnecessary and extended cameo by the dreadful Mike Tyson isn’t enough to bring this film down.

Ryan says: A-

Click here to see the trailer on YouTube.