a near unapologetic pleasure - better than Old School

Rating: 8/10 (5 June 2009)

The Hangover, until its closing credits, is a little like the Reservoir Dogs of bachelor party movies; as we never saw the heist in Dogs, we never see the party in this film. It becomes like a comedy-of-errors trapped in a mystery-riddle-enigma where three guys, Alan, Stu, and Phil (Galifianakas, Helms, Copper) can't seem to find their buddy, Doug, who is, you know, the groom in the wedding happening in one day. So, their quest leads them on a path of the unlikely and outrageous. There's a tiger in the bathroom and a baby in the closet when they wake from their stupor. When they leave to look for them Stu finds out he got married to a hooker (Heather Graham, very funny bit part) and she even has her grandmother's holocaust ring. As you might have seen in the trailer Alan's line "I didn't know they gave out rings at the holocaust", that should give a glimpse of other classic tid-bits in the movie. Oh yeah, and there's Mike Tyson singing Phil Collins, an effeminate Asian gangster (maybe the only meh stereotype done), and an scene with Rob Riggle that, damn his weak Daily Show bits, is really hysterical.
Oh sure, if you think about the movie for too long then it's predictable and not all the jokes work 100%. But so much of it does, and the director Todd Phillips, making the third round on this kind of outrageous-guy-buddy-comedy flick (before was the good Road Trip and the sometimes good sometimes overrated Old School) is assured with his craft here. What appears to be just a situation being told does become a story, with separate conflicts (i.e. the nice Mercedes, Stu's fractured relationship with his girlfriend), and spectacular camaraderie between the three main stars. To give away many more of the gags, some of them so obvious that they work because of the attitude of Galifianakis and the style of comedy Ed Helms has perfected from his time at the Office, towards scenes that could be played for simple laughs. There's real wit here, and a sense of "what-the-f***" going on at every turn that makes it worthwhile.
So, grab your buddies, sneak in some beers, and get ready to kick back with some guys you might recognize, maybe so close you'll be wondering if art imitates life a little much (save, perhaps, for Fat Jesus jokes, ha-ha), on a road trip in Vegas. Delicate sensibilities need not apply, as all will be offended at some point, even with mild jokes like Mike Epps' character having the same name as the missing bachelor-groom ("Black Doug", "White Doug"). Did I mention Mike Tyson sings and throws punches in-between? One can't decide if this or his recent documentary takes the cake for Tyson's comeback via cinema.