What took them so long?

Rating: 9/10 (30 May 2011)

In a sea of comedies that are absolutely humorless, idiotic, and ones that only have their moments every hour, The Hangover stands out as a fresh piece of the modern day world of comedy. Obtaining the top three status for most successful R rated films, this film reminds us that with the right mix of characters, a cute story, and some highly eventful antics, comedy films can still be made like they used to be.
It's the day before Doug's (Bartha) big wedding, and before making a lifelong commitment, his friends Phil (Cooper), Stu (Helms), and Alan (Galifianakis), the soon to be brother-in-law of Doug take him out on a Bachelor Party in Vegas. They toast on the roof and next thing they know, they wake up hungover, their room destroyed, a tiger and a chicken in the livingroom, and they must figure out "what the hell happened last night." The best part is, they lost the groom. So Phil, Stu, and Alan must search the entire Las Vegas for Doug while piecing together the events of the previous night.
The true fun of The Hangover is the fact that the fun comes from the events in the film. The characters try desperately to find their friend, but so many unexplainable events keep popping up and interfering with their plans it's hysterical.
You can tell when a comedy is trying to hard to squeeze laughs out of its audience. Some work, some don't. With The Hangover, the first time you see it, you will laugh a lot. It's consistently funny. There is never a dull moment. All four actors have great chemistry, and we wind up actually caring about their fates, not just watching them unfold with no emotion.
It plays like a hazy detective story where we know only as much as the characters. Normally in movies, we get a side story of others, or the movie will give you hints to what will happen. In The Hangover, we go from their final moments alert, to when they wake up in their hotel room. We know nothing of the events last night. We have to wait for them to uncover the events.
The character that delivers the most laughs is easily Zach Galifianakis's character. Sweet and simple Alan has tons of quotable lines that are maybe far too quotable. The Hangover will most likely do to Galifianakis's career what Animal House did to John Belushi's. He has now became a household name, and will likely be compared to his role in The Hangover if he does future comedies. Hopefully he'll do one very serious drama film to show he is multi-talented rather than being the charming simpleton in all his movies.
Because of all the buzz, The Hangover was dubbed "overrated" and "not funny" by many who saw it late. I saw the film around the time of release. Hearing nothing about it and just getting out of school, I was in for a positive movie. I just expected a few good laughs and all around, a decent movie. What I got was a wonderful comedy with heart, humor, and a huge rewatch value.
Starring: Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, and Justin Bartha. Directed by: Todd Phillips.