The Hangover Review

Published by Jeff Leins on: June 8th, 2009

Ahh, hangovers.  The cruel consequence of a wild night of cleverly-named drinks, strippers, and My Little Ponies.  You wake up in a child’s inflatable jump castle and you wonder how a 2-year-old’s birthday party turned into the night of your life.  But enough about my weekend…

The latest movie from Old School director Todd Phillips hilariously explores the subject of blackout binge drinking, or as comedian Dave Attell calls it: “time travel.”  The Hangover is wall-to-wall jokes and possibly funnier than his other drunken comedy.  If laughing until it hurts isn’t your thing, then see this movie so you won’t be as behind as the people still saying “earmuffs” and calling themselves “Frank the Tank.”

A ragtag foursome of friends embarks on a bachelor party to Las Vegas just days before Doug (Justin Bartha) is supposed to be married.  Accompanying him to Sin City are Phil (Bradley Cooper, making his way to lead actor status), the hen-pecked dentist Stu (Ed Helms), and the tag-along future brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis).  But after a night of booze, drugs, and debauchery, the group wakes up a trio and missing the groom the day before the wedding.  Because of alcohol amnesia, no one knows where they might have left Doug and why there’s a live tiger in the bathroom.

As the Ludacris song raps in the soundtrack, “Take that and rewind it back.”  Through scattered clues and helpful strangers, the three must find a way to reassemble by retracing their steps through the wild night.  Where’s Doug?  How did Stu lose a tooth?  Why do they have an infant in their closet?  And where did that tiger come from?  All questions they ask in a raucous quest for answers.  The Memento/Tarantino style plot keeps the audience guessing enough to blindside you with plenty of funny twists.

I expected Cooper to play the straight man to the other two veteran comedians, but he delivers a few great lines of his own from a cleverly written script.  Helms is goofy as usual, a brilliant delivery crafted over years on “The Daily Show.”  The wild card, Zach “Fat Jesus” Galifianakis, is as wacky as his stand-up, an awkward blend of uneasy bits and off-the-wall randomness.  The three compliment each other, like any good comedy team, and the rest is hilarity.  I wouldn’t be surprised if all three broke out in Hollywood because of this memorable movie.

The relentless gags push the envelope up to and occasionally past the line, so be prepared for political incorrectness and potentially offensive material.  Child molestation, masturbation, and Bin Laden are all punch lines mere minutes into the movie, taking comedy where it belongs: to the uncomfortable edge.  It’s dark and disgusting at times, but never to the point of alienation.

A few minor gripes from an otherwise fun time.  The plot lulls in places, especially during an extended cameo from former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, a few of the sight gags go unexplained (maybe a good thing), and many of the funny parts were ruined by constant advertising.

Don’t worry, the ending couldn’t have possibly made it to TV.  The censors must have missed the outrageous Polaroids lining the sides of the screen as names scrolled in one of the funniest credit sequences in history.  The Hangover is just plain funny.

4 out of 5.