The Hangover

Rating: 8/10 (21 January 2010)

When I saw the advert I thought it was going to be some sort of low laugh and low budget comedy, with the same kind of premise as Dude, Where's My Car? But when I heard it was a surprise hit at the cinemas, I changed my mind about seeing it, from director Todd Phillips (Old School, Road Trip). Basically Doug Billings (Justin Bartha) and Tracy Garner (Sasha Barrese) are going to be married in two days, and to celebrate, Doug and his buddies have borrowed the beloved Mercedes of father-of-the-bride Sid (Jeffrey Tambor) for a 24-hour stag party in Las Vegas. His buddies are immature school teacher Phil Wenneck (Bradley Cooper) and worrying dentist Stu Price (Ed Helms), plus Tracy's unhygienic brother Alan (Zach Galifianakis) are going to Las Vegas. The next morning the three guys wake up with a really bad hangover after the long night of drinking, with no memory of what happened, and Doug has gone missing. After leaving their trashed and tiger filled suite, they begin looking for Doug, as well as having their steps retraced with clues, going to the places they went and meeting the people they don't remember. Along the way they find out they had been to hospital, stolen a police car, Stu had pulled his own tooth and married stripper Jade (Heather Graham), she is the mother of the baby they had, they stole the tiger from Mike Tyson, and much more besides. Alan realises they do not remember anything because he put what he thought was ecstasy in their drinks, but it was actually the "date rape" drug Roofinol aka "roofies", and it is when they meet the man who gave them, by paying a ransom to Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) for the exchange of a Black Doug (Mike Epps). There is the point when they are sure they can't get Doug back and have to tell Tracy the truth, but then they realise where he is and was all along, and they race to get back in time for the wedding. After the whole experience there is a happy ending for pretty much everyone, as well as a montage of photos of the whole night they do not remember, accompanied by the song "Right Round" by Flo Rida feat. Ke$ha. It is one of the funniest films I have seen for years, it might be a slightly familiar format, but it is done so well and the jokes and script are so well crafted that you just go with the flow. The three leads are great fun to watch, the visual and written jokes are hysterical, and a great soundtrack including Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out"; the Usher, Ludicrous, and Lil' Jon song "Yeah" and "Live Your Life" by T.I. feat. Rihanna accompanies the action, so all in all, a fantastically hilarious comedy. It is nominated the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay, and it won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. Very good!