The Hangover Movie Review

The Hangover

Movie Review

“Why does everyone like this film so much?”. Thats what I thought after sitting through the first ten unfunny, overly slapsticky minutes of The Hangover. The film has been number one in the American box office charts, and climbed straight into the Internet Movie Database's (IMDb) Top 250 Movies of All Time. Granted, the latter is not extremely difficult (Dark Knight knocked Shawshank Redemption from the top spot weeks after its release), but the film seems to have some serious cred, which I just couldn't see in the opening reel.

Then something happened. Well two things. Their names are Zack Galifianakis and Ed Helms. I was familiar with both, but not from movies. Galifianakis is a comedian of some renown who has yet to achieve world wide recognition as a stand up, while Helms has a role in the US version of The Office and has appeared as a correspondent on The Daily Show. After the somewhat clunky character introductions, these two spend the rest of the movie's running time trying to comedically outspar each other. Galifinakis edges it on my scorecard, but both men contributed immensely to something rare; an adult comedy which never slides too far into unintelligent bawdiness.

Most studio movies tend to have a plot which can be explained in one sentence, and the Hangover's is simpler than most. Doug, played by National Treasure's Justin Bartha, is getting married, so his friends bring him to Vegas for a bachelor party, lose him during the course of a drunken night, and spend the rest of the movie searching Sin City, and their alcohol addled brains for clues to the grooms whereabouts. In this sense the story incorporates elements of a drunkards version of Memento, with less tattooing.

Todd Phillips, who has previously directed Old School and the similarly themed Road Trip does an excellent job of exposing a fresh segment of the Vegas underbelly. The city by day appears no less sleazy than after dark. He also coaxes excellent cameos from Rob Riggle (also of the Daily Show) and Ken Jeong (Role Models and Knocked Up).

Heather Graham has a too-small part as Jade, an escort with a heart of gold. Despite her lack of time she still manages to engage in that most Grahamsian of activities; on-screen nudity. Surely a clause which has become standard in her acting contracts. Mike Tyson cameos as himself. Bad idea. Iron Mike proceeds to treat his scenes with all the deftness of a breeze block slung through plate glass. That is to say he destroys them with his unconvincing, uneven attempts at acting. This blip would be more forgivable if not for the strength of the rest of the cast.

My final irksome memory was the story. The film plays every trick to disguise the third act plot twist, but the ending is still slightly predictable, which is a shame, as it dents an otherwise enjoyable and not overly formulaic yarn.

The Hangover is a slightly uneven comedy, hilarious in places, which treads outside the “adult comedy equals sordid comedy” box. The question is, will the people who voted this ahead of Brief Encounter on IMDb wake up in a few months time with a sore head and wonder “What was I thinking?”.

7.5/10