Release Date: June 5, 2009
Rating: R (for pervasive language, sexual content including nudity, and some drug material)
Genre: Comedy
Run Time: 100 min.
Director: Todd Phillips
Actors: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham, Sasha Barrese, Mike Tyson, Jeffrey Tambor
Hangover:
1. Unpleasant physical effects following the heavy use of alcohol. 2. A letdown, as after a period of excitement. (The American Heritage Dictionary)
The Hangover, a new R-rated comedy, graphically portrays the former definition, and the early critical reactions constitute a “period of excitement” as noted in the latter definition, as film reviewers fall all over themselves to praise this excessive film.
However, for some of us, the mention of “a letdown” in definition number two is a more appropriate descriptor for the film.
The Hangover continues—and accelerates—the trend toward outrageous, raunchy “R”-rated comedies. That domain, dominated by writer/director Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story), can make room for Todd Phillips among its list of big names. Phillips, who also directed Old School, has added a second outrageous comedy to his oeuvre, and the resulting film is so hotly anticipated that the studio behind it green-lit a sequel weeks before the first film opened in theaters.
After the closing-credits photo montage of The Hangover, one can only shudder at how the studio plans to one-up the sex-and-drugs storyline in a sequel.
In the film, four friends head to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, and three of them awaken the next morning, fogged over and unable to remember what happened the previous night. Worse, they have no recollection of what happened to the fourth person in their party—the groom-to-be.
The three friends are Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and Alan (Zach Galifianakis), and the missing groomsman is Doug (Justin Bartha), but the film is less interested in relationship dynamics—Doug’s impending wedding included—than it is in the dawning revelation of what happened during the boys’ wild night.
After the foursome leave behind their strong-willed significant others, they drive to Vegas and check into Caesar’s Palace, but the trip and their arrival are preliminary to the morning after, as the men try to piece together what happened the previous night. Phillips draws out the revelations about the visitors’ antics slowly. When they call for their car, a valet brings them a police vehicle and refers to them as officers. A professional escort (Heather Graham) smilingly tells Stu that she’s his new wife. Stu’s disorientation is heightened by a missing tooth. And then there are the chickens—as well as a tiger belonging to Mike Tyson—in the guys’ hotel room. And a crying baby. Then Mike Tyson himself shows up. He wants his tiger back and isn’t afraid to use his fists to get his message across.
