The best movie from director Todd Phillips

Rating: 10/10 (21 May 2010)

Director Todd Phillips knows how to make a good, original story, and make it his own. With The Hangover, Phillips proves that he does not need famous actors to make a fun comedy that shows to be a good time. Phillips first shows this by having only semi-famous actors play the four main characters.
Bradley Cooper, who appears in Wedding Crashers and Yes Man, plays Phil, a married man who takes his buddy out to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. Ed Helms, who is most famous as Andy Bernard from The Office, plays Stu, a dentist who calls himself a doctor. Justin Bartha from the National Treasure movies plays Doug, the man who is getting married. Zach Galifianakis steals the show as Alan, who thinks of Phil, Stu, and Doug as his best friends. Alan says and does the dumbest stuff but Galifianakis pulls it off and makes Alan believable.
Many people know who Heather Graham is and she is brilliant as Jade, the stripper who marries Stu while they are wasted. In another brilliant part is Ken Jeong, who plays a mob boss that is angry with the guys. Mike Tyson also makes a hilarious cameo.
As the scenes and the story unfold, Phillips puts us with the guys as we try to figure out what happened to the guys and makes us want to know just as badly as the guys do. Phillips decides that we as an audience should try and figure out how and when everything happened. This is some brilliant work by Phillips as he puts us involved in the movie.
I also like that the director doesn't just give away the ending. Phillips knows how to make the characters believable and keep the story compelling. This is his best movie to date and he proves that he can get semi-famous actors and make them good.