(The recent DVD release of The Hangover offered the opportunity to remedy the missed chance earlier in the summer for a review. Also: DVD Christmas gifts!? Check out Giampaolo’s DVD review of Star Trek here.)
The Hangover (Dir. Todd Phillips, 2009)
The Hangover is the latest in a long and hallowed collection of film comedies by young and immeasurably irresponsible men, dating all the way back to Preston Sturges by way of Animal House, Caddyshack, and Blazing Saddles, each of which exists as a reminder that maturity is vastly overrated. In Todd Phillips’ (Road Trip, Old School), latest film, the moment Alan (played the truly indescribable comedian Zach Galifianakis) refers to Dustin Hoffman’s character in Rain Man as a re-tard, it becomes fairly obvious that the list has its latest member.
The Hangover manages to outsmart 90% of comedies by earning every single joke in the film. When the three central characters — Stu (Ed Helms), Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Alan — take their friend Doug (Justin Bartha, of National Treaure fame) to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, things go awry; the morning after, the trio discovers the groom-to-be has vanished and no one can remember anything that occurred the night before. By moving the film forward through a very direct plotline, Todd Phillips is able to capitalize on the moments of potential by letting his three central actors loose. Unlike most R-rated comedies, the profanity and gross-out factors do not reign supreme. Zach Galifianakis delivers by employing superb non-sequiturs (”Was this the real Caesar’s palace? Did Caesar actually live here?” he asks the front desk at Caesar’s Palace Hotel & Casino), and having quick-witted snippet conversations with the other actors.
What’s most interesting about the film, though, is witnessing three modern men trekking through Western society’s land of the permanent id. A.O. Scott went so far as to say the film is stuck in the pregenital Freudian child-development state. Although The Hangover does have its fair share of boobs, male buttocks and beer, it is the anxiety that plagues its characters–finding one of their own and getting him back to ‘reality’– that proves affecting. There are moments that run flat (like the entire Mike Tyson’s tiger subplot), but there is enough momentum–and enough jokes–that when the payoff comes at the end, the bumpy parts seem worth it.
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