Like the millions of tourists who soak up the American excess of Las Vegas, The Hangover is basically just interested in having a good time. It’s dumb, it’s crude and if there’s a flaw in its execution, it’s only that it adds more to the journey than a trip this simple needs.
Directed with sophomoric glee by Todd Smith (Old School), The Hangover begins efficiently enough, with a bloodied groomsman explaining to a worried bride-to-be that he’s lost the groom. From there, a few obligatory scenes of exposition introduce the groom, Doug (Justin Bartha), his awkward man-child of a brother-in-law, Alan (Zach Galifianakis), and best friends Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Stu (Ed Helms), the confident jerk and buttoned-down pushover, respectively. It takes more time than it should to establish that they do, indeed, fit these archetypes, but when the three groomsmen wake up in their trashed hotel room after a hazy night of bachelor partying only to discover they are missing a groom, the movie finds its legs.
Humiliations and slapstick are The Hangover’s stock in trade as the trio are punched, stun-gunned and generally abused on their search to find the missing Doug. From the fairly standard “Oh no, impulsive marriage!” to a more inventive gamut of stun gun shots to the chest, crotch and face, the trio lose their dignity as quickly as they can piece together the night. And when it comes to humiliation, Galifianakis’s Alan is king.
A non-sequitur delivery system constantly trying to befriend his fellow groomsmen, Galifianakis delivers every line with a naïve earnestness that would make him endearing if he wasn’t so God damned weird. While Phil is trying to assure everyone that everything is going to work out and Stu is fretting about credit card bills, Alan is trying to slit his hand open to make a blood brother pact.
The Hangover is generally a fun ride, even with speed bumps that come when the momentum slows or the script turns in the wrong direction. Phil, for example, starts off the film ready to run from his family, and his unearned redemption in the last scene comes only because it’s expected. Alan has a one-off line about not being allowed within 50 feet of a school that’s harder to brush off than screenwriters Jon Lucas and Thomas Moore seem to think. Still, with a final montage whose hilarious obscenity might just make it the greatest end-credits sequence of all time, The Hangover never loses sight of the most simple and American selling point of all: the lowest common denominator.
Post the first comment: (Login or Register)