The Hangover Review

The Hangover has a lot to live up to. Since the trailer debuted nearly 2 months ago, people have had high expectations which were going to be hard to fulfill. The stars had a lot riding on the movie, considering it was all three actors, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, and Bradley Cooper's first shot at a front mans position (Cooper was seen as a headline in spring's He's Just Not That Into You, but his screen time was incredibly limited). And the studio had high hopes as well, considering after the feedback from the trailer, not feature film but trailer, was so good Warner Brothers greenlit a sequel a month before its release.

The film delivers and meets all the expected expectations. In a brief summary, the film is about 4 men who drive to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. The soon-to-be married Doug, his two friends Stu and Phil, and his new not-all-together brother in law Alan. The guys get so drunk they can't remember the night previous and end up loosing Doug a day before his wedding, and the three are forced to retrace their steps to find Doug.

The unique premise is so simple that it doesn't end up weighing down the comedy portion of the film, something that has happened with movies like Tropic Thunder and Pineapple Express. And the comedy is all there. While the trailer gives away several key funny scenes overall the movie has more to offer than the previews let on to be. The film doesn't hold anything back either. This movie is rated R for a reason. It's crass and vulgar and knows exactly what its trying to be (The ending credits demonstrate this very well).

The only thing not going for The Hangover is how unnecessarily scatter brained it becomes sometimes. At one point Ed Helmes begins playing the piano to a random 2 minute music video esc scene that left me scratching my head. Not to say it isn't amusing, but it certainly is...out of place? It's not the only part either. One scene seems to be a parody of Oceans 11 or the recent movie 21. Again, it seemed to be trying to achieve a different style of humor, something I can appreciate and find mildly entertaining but not laugh out loud funny.

But other than this minor set back The Hangover is the funniest film of 2009 easily, and is probably the best since Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It keeps continual laughs flowing in a unique plot. It's worth the money to go see Mike Tyson alone. Grade - A-