Movie Summary of The Hangover by Michael The Moviegoer.
THE HANGOVER = ****
“Very Funny Things”
Except for Heather Graham, “The Hangover” has no big-name stars, no big-name director, no interesting backstory or internet phenomenon to announce its arrival. Yet here it is. A raunchy R-rated comedy competing for a slice of the summer box office. It has everything going against it except for one thing. It really is the best movie out there right now. It’s easily the year’s funniest comedy. But beyond that it is also a film that is expertly made.
Beautifully photographed, and edited with perfect comic timing, “The Hangover” never lets you stop laughing long enough to catch your breath. Unlike so many recent comedies with their only few laughs being featured in their preview trailers, this is a full-service comedy with a continuous train of big laughs throughout.
Director Todd Phillips does the unexpected. There are no scenes of a wild bachelor party, just the aftermath. The movie follows a group of men as they try to piece together what happened the night before. How did a tiger end up in their bathroom? How did Stu lose a tooth? Where did that baby come from? The entire movie plays like trying to solve a really strange riddle. All of this is so much more fascinating than if we were just watching yet another wild bachelor party movie. This is pure comic genius with a consistent rhythmic pattern of laughs not heard in movie theatres since the days of Billy Wilder.
As many of these actors are not yet big names, I feel really sorry for them because absolutely nobody will be reading their names during the end credits. Alongside their names are snapshot photographs of the bachelor party events. Just try to look away toward the credits for even a second. You won’t be able to. The credits might as well not exist.
DVD Companion: In 1998, director Peter Berg made a similar comedy called “Very Bad Things” about a bachelor party gone wrong in Las Vegas. This very dark comedy has an all-star cast including Cameron Diaz, Jeremy Piven, Jon Favreau and Christian Slater. It also has one of the most sick and twistedly funny endings I’ve ever seen.
Michael The Moviegoer
