'Where have all the good films gone - long time passing'

Rating: 2/10 (29 May 2010)

THE HANGOVER apparently swept the country, touted as the funniest film ever made. And indeed the proof of its success lies in the fact that THE HANGOVER 2 is in post-production. So there is more on the way. The question arises, 'more what?' Apparently resting on the information gathered from television sitcoms and other raunchy potty mouth movies like 'Borat' etc., there is an audience for films that pose middle aged men as men in their 20s performing acts that are more like boys in their misbegotten teens. It is amazing that these films that put down African Americans (like the manipulation of Mike Tyson and the dumb drug dealer character 'Black Doug' portrayed by Mike Epps) and Asian Americans (like the foolish over-the-top fop of 'Mr Chow' by Jen Keong, etc etc etc are not confronted. But then it may appear that all is fair in cinema 'comedy'.
The premise is that four friends go to Las Vegas for a bachelor party before the wedding of the most mild of them all. Bradley Cooper (a teacher), Ed Helms (a dentist), Zach Galifianakis (the obese mentally disturbed brother of the bride) and Justin Bartha (the groom to be) spend one lost night of doped drunken misadventures and wake up in an hotel suite with a chicken, a tiger, a mess, hangovers and amnesia, and a missing groom. The remainder of the film is simple the antics of these broken down individuals attempting to find the groom and to right some infractions of behavior. Is that funny? Well, apparently to the vast number of people who see this film it is. So here comes the next installment in what will likely be a long line of gross-out sequels. Meanwhile the beautiful adult movies languish in oblivion. To this we've come?
Grady Harp