The Hangover

Vegas does quite a number on The Hangover's main trio—Phil [Bradley Cooper], Alan [Zach Galifianakis] and Stu [Ed Helms]. No matter how crazy it gets—a tiger in the bathroom, a missing tooth, a shotgun wedding, a naked crowbar-wielding gangster—the characters are having the time of their lives. Now, audiences most certainly will have a blast as well during this raunchy romp.

The Hangover blends a kinetic life-on-the-edge trip a la Go with the laugh-out-loud antics that director Todd Phillips [Old School, Road Trip] is famous for. However, Phillips takes the madness up a notch, and Vegas is the perfect arena for it. The plot is simple. Phil, Alan and Stu take their soon-to-be-hitched buddy Doug [Justin Bartha] to Vegas for a final stint of debauchery before he takes the plunge into married life. However, after toasting with shots of Jagermeister on the Caesar's Palace roof, the boys wake up in their trashed villa the next day, and the groom is gone. They can't remember anything, but it looks like Victoria's Secret exploded in the suite, and there's a tiger in the bathroom. The ruse is the audience never sees their night, but they get to piece everything back together. As any hardened partier knows, figuring out what the hell happened is the best part of getting wrecked.

The movie's laughs hit hard, and it's one of those rare comedies where you're laughing so much it's easy to miss some of the jokes. Nevertheless, it makes for pleasurable multiple viewings. Doug's new brother in-law the bearded "satchel"-wearing Alan is the odd man out in the group—he can't drink or be within 20 yards of a school. As Phil points out, "He's like a Gremlin with instructions and shit." It's just one example of a bevy of sharp quick lines that Cooper fires off freely sarcastically jabbing everyone around. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Tambor's hilarious as Doug's new father-in-law telling him, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas except for herpes—that shit will come back with you."

Other complete absurdities take over. Mike Tyson makes a hilarious cameo—quite a step away from his recent documentary, but it's good to see he's got a punchy self-deprecating sense of humor. The guys become the subjects of taser-testing in front of a group of kids visiting the police station in another outrageous set piece. Then there's Heather Graham's stripper, err…escort with a heart of gold, Jade. Stu accidentally marries her, and she ends up providing some good female energy to the otherwise male-loaded romp. Graham is funny, sexy and very heartwarming in the role.

Really character driven, the film succeeds on many levels. Will it win any Academy Awards, no. Are there any explosions, well nothing like what you'll see in Transformers 2. However, it still bristles with crazy energy. Cooper, Galifianakis, Helms and Graham make for a wild ride that you won't soon forget, even if you blackout. An intoxicatingly funny new comedy classic.

—Rick Florino
06.05.09

It's hard to review a movie like The Hangover in terms that are the most fitting. Words and phrases like "funny," "outrageous," and "awesomely inappropriate" are all well and good, but they don't get to the heart of the film like, say, drunkenly rating it "epic" out of five stars.

Such intoxicated creative sportsmanship can be hard to justify in the cold light of day, but don't worry, that fits with the movie, too. The story begins with Doug (Justin Bartha), a thirtysomething guy who's getting married in two days. Cut to a borrowed vintage Mercedes Cabrio (which you know is just doomed) packed full of groomsmen (Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper, and Ed Helms) hightailing it out to Vegas for the traditional last night of freedom. Cut to the evening of supposedly tame libations starting out innocently enough. Cut to the three wrecked members of the wedding party waking up the next morning in their decimated suite with a baby in the closet, a tiger in the bathroom, and no idea where the groom is.

They also have no idea what happened last night, having apparently transgressed to such Hunter S. Thompson-esque levels of debauchery that they entered some kind of partying black hole. A raucous detective story ensues, as the guys piece together their forgotten adventures in search of the missing Doug, and of course, inevitably stir up the hilarious consequences of last night's inebriated shenanigans.

It would be a terrible waste to spoil too many specifics, because a lot of the discoveries about what happened pop up as true surprises, and even the more predictable stuff (Come on, it's Vegas -- you know somebody's marrying a prostitute) plays out creatively. Director Todd Phillips helped define this particular brand of boys-gone-wild comedy with 2003's Old School, but The Hangover is way crazier and more over-the-top. And that goes for all aspects of the film: the pace is more frantic, the jokes are rowdier, and the plot is more harrowing by a lot. That being said, the humor doesn't really push the envelope in terms of ardently R-rated comedy, and things get a little sappy at the end. So if you're looking for the next stop on the Shockingly Experimental Comedy train, don't get off here -- this ride is strictly for laughs.
~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide