The Hangover use of Foreshadowing and Time Elapse

Rating: 9/10 (4 October 2013)

October 2, 2013
Review
Time plays a huge role when it comes to the making of a film. Foreshadowing is a technique that is often used at the beginning of movies to get the audience attention. This technique can have both a negative and positive view on a movie. In the movie The Hangover, directed by Todd Phillips, starts with Phil on the phone with Doug's wife Tracy. He told her that they messed up the night and lost her soon to be husband Doug. Then the movie goes back two days earlier to reveal to the audience what happened the nights before. Another example of how Phillips played with time is by showing the elapse of time over the Las Vegas skyline during the night of Doug's bachelor's party with his three friends in Las Vegas. I believe Philips' use of foreshadowing and the elapse of time is very effective because it kept the audience anticipated to see what happened.
The use of foreshadowing at the beginning of the movie kept me engaged to see what happened to Doug and the bachelor party night. James Berardinelli from Reelviews quotes, "The Hangover begins and ends conventionally"(N.p). Foreshadow at the beginning was conventional because it was unexpected and grabbed the audience attention immediately. Berardinelli went on and states, "The film begins with a teaser: it's the day of the wedding, the groom is missing, and his friends are in the middle of nowhere"(N.p). Even though the situation Phil presents to Doug's wife Tracy was a serious situation, it was also considered to be comedic because who gets lost right before their own wedding. From Phillips starting the movie with a flashback it created the mood and plot for the rest of the film. This was a genius idea because it tells you the problem, but it does not go into detail on what happened for this problem to occur. This technique is opposite of an ordinary movie because usually the problem is built up into the movie, rarely is it given at the beginning of it. The counter argument for using this technique of displaying the problem at the beginning is because it reveals the main gist to early. I do not agree with this dispute because I think this was very much needed in The Hangover because it creates an attention getter.
Another brilliant idea that Phillips used in The Hangover is the elapse of time over the Las Vegas Skyline. Even though the audience would have probably like to have seen what happened the night of Doug's bachelor party they didn't get to see the outcome. This is the counter argument of Phillips use of time elapse. Honestly I thought his use of time elapse was a great idea. The reason why I agree is because I think that Philip had in his mind from the start of the movie process that he wasn't going to reveal the bachelor party and what happened that night until the end of the movie. From Philip's doing this he created a mysterious effect to the movie making the audience question what happened the night of the bachelor party. Robert Ebert the movie critic states, "The next morning, Doug will be missing. The other three are missing for several hours; none of them can remember a thing since they were on the roof of Caesars Palace, drinking shots of Jagermeister. They would desperately like to know: How in the hell do you wake up in a $4,200- a-night suite with a tiger, a chicken, a crying baby, a missing tooth and a belly button pierced for a diamond dangle? And when you give your parking check to the doorman, why does he bring around a police car? And where is Doug?" (N.p). Philip's gives the audience the answers to the questions by showing how the three friends gathered up clues to determine what happened that night to find Doug. Ebert states, "The search for Doug has the friends piecing together clues from the ER doctor, Mike Tyson's security tapes and a mattress that is impaled on the uplifted arm of one of the Caesars Palace statues. The plot hurtles through them"(N.p). The structure of this movie through the elapse of time gives it a unique element.
Philips was able to create more of mysterious theme in a comedic movie through the elements of foreshadowing and time elapse. The Hangover is probably one of the most successful comedy movies in this century. Through Philips play on time it adds a more realistic effect to the humorous movie. The play on time fits perfectly with the randomness of the movie.
Work Cited Berardinelli, James. "The Hangover." Reelviews. N.p., 05 Jun 2009. Web. 4 Oct 2013. Ebert, Robert. "The Hangover."www.robertebert.com. N.p., 3 Jun 2009. Web. 4 Oct 2013. Phillips, Todd, director. The Hangover. Dir. Jon Lucas, and Writ. Scott Moore. Warner Bros. , 2009. Web. 4 Oct 2013.