I admit that, like probably more than a few of you, when I first saw the trailers for The Hangover all I could think was, great, just what I needed in my summer movie roster was for someone to rip off Dude, Where’s My Car?. How spectacularly desperate do you have to be to rip off an ASHTON KUTCHER movie?
And then I got my ticket, heaved the sigh that surely sounds SOMETHING like what Dante Aligheri no doubt heard while standing in front of the big sign that said Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here and took my seat.
Imagine my shock to discover that this movie was actually going to be funny.
In The Hangover, a group of buddies take one of their own out to Las Vegas for a bachelor party they hope they’ll never forget. Of course, in the alcohol and drug-fuelled insanity that follows, they actually DO forget everything that happened the night before. And as they peel themselves off the floor (to a man, they all wake up on the floor of their admittedly rather palatial hotel room), they begin to discover that the previous night was a whole lot wilder than anyone thought possible. And as they further discover that the groom to be has gone missing, with his wedding mere hours away (about thirty six of them or so, roughly) and his cell phone left in the room, the three remaining buddies have to pull together to figure out just what happened that night.
You might wonder about the headline on this one, like what exactly “double the normal road trip” means. Well, basically, you get all the normal thrills and laughs that come from a bunch of guys out doing truly stupid stuff, but in this case, you get the ADDED thrills and laughs that come from watching this ridiculous foursome of guys DISCOVER what it was they did that long night they’ve already forgotten. You’ve never seen so many looks of astonishment in all your life. Like you’ve seen in the trailer, one wakes up missing a tooth. Another discovers that, somehow, a tiger has found its way into the bathroom. The three survivors are shocked to find a baby in a car seat in their room’s closet. And this is all in the first fifteen, twenty minutes or so. Even better, they didn’t blow all their good surprises in the trailer, either–there’s PLENTY of them to be had, and they’ll continue all the way up to even the ending of the movie.
And yes, anyone who compared this to Dude, Where’s My Car? will not be incorrect…but I do have to say this is vastly superior to that pile of dreck mostly because no aliens are involved and, unlike Ashton Kutcher, Zach Galifanakis is actually, you know, FUNNY.
Special note–as tempted as you may be to stick around after the credits…I actually advise you to leave. As any regular over at 4chan knows, some things, once seen, cannot be unseen. And I could’ve gone three more lifetimes without seeing some of that. Let’s just say that Zach Galifanakis has way too much of a penchant for male nudity.
I’m just glad I skipped the popcorn.
Anyway, the key thing to remember here is that this really is a spectacularly funny movie. I found myself laughing several times at some witty bit of dialogue or some patently ludicrous situation. The musical interlude in the middle is not to be missed. Though there really is no reason to see this in theatres–you won’t miss anything if you wait for it on DVD. But regardless of when you choose to see it, if you don’t mind outlandish comedies with little or no redeeming social value, then this one is exactly what you need.
Popularity: unranked [?]
