The Hangover

It’s in Vegas. A tiger is walking around in the bathroom. And, Mike Tyson makes a classic cameo appearance that will change your perception of him. What else do you need?

Justin Bartha plays Doug – a man only days away from his wedding. Of course, his buddies want to throw a wild bachelor party that they will never forget, so Stu (Ed Helms), Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Alan (Zach Galafianakis) take the groom to Las Vegas for more debauchery than any one man can handle (or even four can handle in this case). The next morning, they wake up, and can’t remember what happened, but they must retrace their steps to find the missing Doug before the blessed nuptials.

Will they find Doug?

What happened last night?

Do I really need hundreds of adjectives to tell you about The Hangover? The best way to describe the movie is to tell you that it is funny. When comedy after comedy fails to tickle, cajole or even flirt with your funny bone (I’m talking about you, Land of the Lost), finding one that makes you laugh at almost every joke and every scene is about as exciting as finding that special lady who makes you melt when she smiles.

Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, The Hangover is not some high concept, intellectual gymnastics. The movie is silly, outrageous, naughty and funny, yet, not one that makes you roll your eyes at stupidity (Are you listening, Land of the Lost ?). In a way, Moore and Lucas, along with director Todd Phillips, formulate The Hangover into a kind of mystery. As Stu, Phil and Alan try to piece together all of the strange clues and leads, the audience attempts to figure it out, and Phillips drops in little teases and possibilities that fire up the audience’s imagination, which leads to the best feature of The Hangover. What happens is even crazier than you can imagine, so there is no let down.

Best of all, Helms, Cooper and Galafianakis are a great comedy trio with each one bringing a different element to the movie. Helms is hilarious as the henpecked husband worried about getting caught. He has the right amount of weeniness and annoyance at his own personal situation that makes the audience root for him as he acts out against his controlling wife. Cooper is a great leading man with charisma and comedic timing that you don’t find every day, which makes his overly-eager-to-party attitude likable instead off putting. Then, Galafianakis takes the silliest and most ridiculous material and saves it from being stupid, even though we get too many views of his derriere.

The Hangover needs a slightly quicker pace, but, once it gets going, it will be one of your favorite movies of the summer.

The Hangover is rated R for pervasive language, sexual content including nudity, and some drug material.