The Hangover

The Hangover (2009)

First off, I love Bradley Cooper and after hearing so much good press about this show I had big expectations. I thought all the actors were pretty great, but it was Zach Galifianakis who stole the show.

The film is a Las Vegas-set comedy centered around three groomsmen who lose their about-to-be-wed buddy during their drunken misadventures, then must retrace their steps in order to find him.

The beauty of the film is in the random absurdity of the aftermath of a wild night in vegas. A tiger in the bathroom? A missing tooth? A baby? What the... Yet, somehow it all seemed just a bit over the top for me. My pal Pam admitted that one never quite knew where the film was going so the lack of predictability was a plus in keeping the viewer engaged. Still, I didn't love it nearly as much as I liked. Maybe it's because the whole destruction, waste, and irresponsibility involved in this sort of drunken rampage is counter to every fiber of my being and so I struggled to watch and laugh at things that rankled more than amused. I guess I'm a bit of a party pooper but I kept thinking... how much is all that damage to the room or to the car going to cost? The movie was stressful and while that can be good fun in a suspense, get the bad guys kind of film, in this case I didn't leave the theatre with the same level of relief.

I will add it was shocking to see the level of vitriol in Rachel Harris's character Melissa (girlfriend to Stu--played by The Office's Ed Helm's). Wow. Vicious and more than a little scary.

The final montage of the photos taken during the night, that the men view after the wedding to sort of fill in the gaps were also pretty awful. Don't let your kids watch this, folks. Yikes. It's R for a reason. Maybe I watched the unrated version, no wait... I saw it at the movie theatre. Wowzers. Yeah...

I may be off in la-la land on this one, but I didn't love it like I expected. It's graphic in nudity and drunken lewd behavior and though it has its moments, I'd guess this could be watched as a rental rather than as a rush to the theatre to see it, kind of film.