The funniest movie in years!

Rating: 9/10 (4 August 2010)

The Hangover is perhaps the funniest movie I've ever seen. I would gladly see it again, and again.
The film begins as the main cast is sitting in the Mojave Desert. One of the main characters, Phil (Bradley Cooper), calls a bride. He informs her that they screwed up, big time. He tells her that the wedding isn't going to happen because they have lost the groom. The movie then flashes back in time two days as a group of friends are preparing for a bachelor party in Las Vegas. The group includes schoolteacher Phil, dentist Stu (Ed Helms), the groom Doug (Justin Bartha) and Doug's future brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis), an eccentric and slightly crazy guy with a round belly and Jesus beard.
The group goes onto the roof of Caesar's Palace for drinks, and then wake up the next morning without remembering a thing. I was both glad and upset to not see a party scene, however, the way the movie does it fits perfectly. Anyway, they wake up the next morning with their $4,200 suite trashed, a tiger in the bathroom, a crying baby, a chicken and a missing tooth. The gang's search for what happened the night before provides content for the rest of the film.
The group then realize that Doug, their best friend, is missing. They set out to find him in Sin City, where anything is possible. The search takes them to a Wedding Chapel, a Police Station, a stripper's apartment and Mike Tyson's estate. The entire journey is fueled with laughs which never stop.
This movie is directed by Todd Philips (Old School & Road Trip), this is by far his best film. The cast, with no huge stars still worked incredibly well together and created an unstoppable team of comedy. Although Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Ken Jeong, with the small role of Mr. Chow, were all funny, nothing prepared me for Zach Galifianakis. Before The Hangover, Galifianakis was virtually unheard of. This film was a make or break movie for him, and I say he scored perfectly. His character, Alan, is lovable but incredibly dumb-witted and is hard to hate. Overall, this is the comedy event of the year, maybe even the century.