The Hangover

Studios are typically pretty nervous, so it was a huge surprise to me that the Studio commissioned a sequel for The Hangover before The Hangover was actually released. That never happens! They either really believed in this movie, or they were just trying to really raise the profile of this non Judd Apatow comedy. The trailer was funny and featured a wonderful comedy moment, but with comedy trailers there is always a worry that the funniest stuff ends up in the trailer and the Mike Tyson stunt was a classic case of that. How could anything in the movie be funnier than Mike Tyson singing Phil Collins? Yet, there was something slowly building about the movie. There was a buzz, an anticipation like Wedding Crashers, for this movie that was starring no one big. The closer it came to coming out, the more excited I got for it. Also, the more nervous I got that my anticipation for it was going to ruin it because I was worried it would not be as funny as I was thinking it would be.

Doug(Justin Bartha) is getting married in three days and he is off to Las Vegas for his bachelor party. Phil(Bradley Cooper) and Stew(Ed Helms) are Doug's best friends and Alan(Zack Gilifanakis) is his future brother-in-law and the four of them head off to Vegas together. Phil is the ring leader and the party animal; Stew is a nervous preppy with a real bitch for a girlfriend (he had to lie about where they were going; Alan is not all there mentally and he is legally required to stay 1000 feet away from high schools for reasons unbeknownst to us. The guys get ready for a night they will never forget and then wake up the next day without remembering a damn thing. They have also lost Doug, the soon to be groom. Phil keeps a level head and tries to detective things out, Stew slowly boils over trying not to lose it and Alan, well Alan is just kind of along for the ride. As the men try and piece their night together they encounter scenarios involving stolen police cars, tasers, a naked Asian and an Asian gang, Stew marrying a stripper, a tiger, Mike Tyson and a baby.

The Hangover is funny in a way movies aren't really funny anymore. The jokes and gags actually come from a script and exist to further along the story. Very rarely are there scenes where the characters are just sitting around saying funny things. The comedy comes from the movie, not as the movie pauses to be super funny. Now, I am not against those types of comedies, but I really liked watching a movie that was scripted specifically to be funny within the story. And the story is hilarious. Watching the whole thing unfold is really entertaining as we get the set up, then we see the after effects and then finally get the execution. They answer enough of the questions, the funniest being how Stew lost his tooth and the tiger. The pacing is excellent as there is never that much down time between crazy shit going on. The side characters all do their jobs, including Mike Tyson playing himself in two excellent scenes and Heather Graham as a stripper, well as she says "Actually, I'm an escort, but stripping is a good way to meet clients." It is hard not to like a girl who is that upfront about what she does. Graham is charming, hot as hell and even gets a few nice laughs. The stripper does not have a heart of gold, but she is a nice girl just looking for some cash.

This movie, though, lives and dies on the shoulders of Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zack Gilifinakis. Cooper, type cast as a douchebag always, is the straight man in this comedy, but he gets his laughs. He is the ultimate go with the flow kind of guy and I would kill to look that good after blacking out. He is the main detective and the one keep things together. He is the ring leader of the crazy nonsense and his hair is always just perfect. Ed Helms, using the preppy nerd he has perfected on The Office, is a comedic gem. He turns slow burning anxiety into an art and when he finally just loses it, it is hilarious. He also sings a wonderfully funny song and is the character who makes the biggest life transition as a result of the events in the film. Then there is Mr. Galifinakis. Zack is short, fat and hairy and uses all of that but does not rely on it to be funny. He has most of the best lines as a clueless, mildly retarded, socially awkward guy who used to be in a wolf pack of one. He is so earnest in his stupidity that when when Stew says "You are too stupid to insult" he merely answers with "Thank you." These three men work together just as well as the Old School boys, because they find a way to make the three comedy styles meld and create an interesting chemistry.

The Hangover, directed by Todd Phillips who in no stranger to road comedies, plays as a road trip movie, a fish out of water movie and a mystery movie. The movie never gets too side tracked away from the story of finding Doug and that is one of the biggest assets. Everything the guys do is to find Doug and every crazy thing they encounter is directly related to having lost Doug. Phillips really does an excellent job staying on task and moving the movie along with losing the comedy. The cast does a remarkable job considering all of the crazy shit they have to do. The guy I was watching it with exclaimed "I am getting tired just watching these guys do all of this." Bradley, Ed and Zack never appear too weary of it and maintain a fresh energy that bubbles over exactly when you need it to. Then, when you think the movie cannot get any funnier, the end credits sequence happens and you lose all control. That sequence not only is absolutely hilarious, it helps fill in the rest of the night. In fact, it is almost necessary vulgarity to help us piece together how things spun that out of control. It is the movie we did not see.

Everyone loves to laugh, but I have not seen this kind of consensus in a comedy in quite some time. I have not seen one person coming out of the theater that did not love it. The only argument revolves around what moment people thought was the funniest. I am not sure I can choose what was my favorite, but all of the bits involving the tiger rank pretty high up for me. Movies like this are dangerous because everything ends up fine and now these characters just have a crazy life story. It makes getting hammered not seem like such a bad idea, even though the massive black outs in the movie are not exactly due to drinking that much. I have no idea how they are going to make a sequel, but I do know that I am totally game for it. I love laughing so hard it hurts and this movie is 100 minutes of pure comedy gold, even though we never do find out what was up with the chicken. Plus, any movie that can use "Who let the Dogs out?" with such a comic touch is surely a winner.

Final Grade: A