A good and funny if not overrated comedy

Rating: 7/10 (16 September 2015)

The Hangover, crude possibly overrated film, well maybe that is true but I still liked this movie and found if funny enough to be good. The whole story revolves around a bunch of friends who go to Las Vegas to celebrate a guy named Doug's soon to be marriage and well, get in a lot of trouble along the way. The plot not only has people going missing but also it has in such a humorous movie actually not that bad a story, kind of exciting in a certain way. Overall really the whole film is one continuous laugh placed over an actual story but it works somehow and even though I do feel people love this a bit too much, it's still more than OK.
The movie stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Heather Graham and also Zach Galifianakis who is by far far far the best character of the movie, very funny and he does exactly the kind of job you would want from that kind of personality. Now I'm not saying that the cast are bad, the acting is good no doubt but my only problem was that some jokes aren't that funny, or at least the one's given to the main cast other than Galifianakis. If you follow the story closely and become really engaged, the only real big laughs will come from Zach and although actors like Ken Jeong have their moments; it is the man playing Alan who is supreme.
The script is one of the other great things in this movie, a fine screenplay from Jon Lucas and Scott Moore who seem to mix the right amount of crude humour with an actual plausible story(kind of). Todd Phillips directs and does a good job, I never felt his vision truly was great and some attempts to get a joke across are flat, nevertheless Phillips continues his career in crude comedy well and I can't say his work is anything but fine. One thing that I really noticed was the cinematography, absolutely brilliant skyline shots mixed with some fantastic angles when trying to simulate being drunk, getting into a fight etc.
As movies go in popular culture, The Hangover trumps many a movie in the way of memorable quotes and that is pretty much all because of Alan. I think what makes him so memorable and also likable is not just the writing and the acting but also the direction in which Phillips gives. The jokes are timed so well it is impossible for Phillips not to have had a hand in making them stick, of everything he does in this movie; this is truly the only part I feel he got truly very well done. I'm not discrediting Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms etc but it is only the comedy stems from one character, and I think the laughs have to revolve around Alan to make this movie funny, and I think it does that just about enough.
In conclusion the Hangover is maybe not the most funny comedy ever (nor the smartest), but it is what it is and it isn't shy about that. Of all the jokes the crude ones never get out of control except maybe once with the needless one's such as the one aimed at Ed Helm's character Stu right at the start. Other than some of those jokes the movie is pretty intelligent and the story well thought out, I know at the time of this review that the second and third movie in this now franchise are very badly reviewed, so maybe this is one to savour.