I'll admit that even though I was highly anticipating The Hangover, I was also ready for disappointment. The trailer was simply too funny, and often times that means all the good jokes have been spent to lure you in. Also, it's directed by Todd Phillips, who has a brutal track record of movies I either hated outright or liked once then learned to hate(Old School the chief culprit). But what he and writers Jon Moore and Scott Lucas have managed to create is without a doubt the funniest, non-stop hilarious movie I've ever seen. And that includes my beloved Superbad and Top Secret.
The premise is refreshingly simple: Doug(National Treasure's Justin Bartha) is due to get married in a couple of days. His buddies Phil(Bradley Cooper) and Stu(Ed Helms) decide to take him to Vegas for one last night as a free man. Along for the ride is Doug's soon to be brother-in-law Alan, who looks like a squished down Unibomber. What happens there is a night none of them would ever forget, possibly because none of them will ever remember it!
You've all seen the trailer so you know what happens. The guys wake up after an intense night of partying, gambling, and drinking, completely unaware of anything that happened. The room looks like it was first hit by a bomb, then was overrun by circus clowns, then had an episode of Wild Kingdom taped inside. What's worse, Doug is nowhere to be found. The three friends must now piece together the pieces of their fractured memories of the previous night and find the groom before all Hell breaks loose.
The Hangover never lets up. Not even for a second. From the moment the guys wake up, something in literally every scene will have you chuckling if not howling with laughter. Whether it's a smoking couch, an errant chicken, or a naked Asian gangster wielding a crowbar like a samurai sword. Yes, that's what I said.
Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of the movie to me was that we really get the sense that we're along for the ride with these guys. We're just as much in the dark as they are, trying to piece together all these disparate elements of their wild evening. At no point are we privy to any more information than the guys are. The script is wonderful in that sense. They also manage to get across the different personalities of these three very different friends. Bradley Cooper's Phil is the ladies' man who's formerly fun life has been shackled due to marriage. Stu is the somewhat reserved(atleast when sober!), nerdy guy with a shrew of a girlfriend. Alan is the odd man out. Not really a friend in the beginning, he's sorta like when your parents would make you take your little brother out with you with your friends. He's the unpredictable one, and the catalyst for most of the craziness that takes place. The only one who we don't really get to know is the character the entire film is centered around, and that's Doug. Not that he matters. Truly the only character anybody really cares about is the Heavyweight champion of the world, Mike Tyson. You know it's been an awesome night when Iron Mike is in your living room doin' air drums to Phil Collins. It's especially cool if you just recently saw Tyson open up in his documentary, and you get the idea that he knows the way he's perceived intimately and is more than happy playing up to that persona. He did the same thing to some acclaim a few years ago in the dreadful film, Black & White. He's just as menacing here playing himself yet again, but I ain't gonna say why and spoil it. Honestly his reason for even being in this thing is too rich to ruin.
Unfortunately I've only been to one bachelor party of which the highlight was watching the world's ugliest stripper fall off a swing on stage. Funny, yes. The stuff of legend? No. Certainly nothing half as fun as I had tagging along with these guys for 90 minutes. There are so many huge laughs and they come so fast that you will miss them, so count on seeing this thing more than once to catch up. And don't forget to stay for the credits. You will not regret it.
9/10
