The Hangover

The Hangover - Where did that tooth go?

Good comedies are hard to come by these days. The Hangover manages to be one of a handful so far in the 21st Century that manages to bring on the laughs.

There is no place to have a stag do like Vegas. In The Hangover we meet three friends and a tag along brother-in-law who undertake a bachelor party in sin city. After booking into their rooms at Caesar Palace the party gets underway. The audience is left in the same situation as the stags as they wake up on the floor minus their groom. They have to follow a series of clues such as a tiger, a baby and stripper to retrace their steps.

After travelling all over Vegas, taking beatings from almost everyone and finally striking a deal with an Asian gangster the boys realise they have lost their friend. When they at last admit their mistake and ring the bride they then realise that they have done what all good stag bachelors do: stranded the groom!

It all ends happily (just about) and they make it to the wedding. The nerdy bachelor Stu (Ed Helms) dumps his overbearing girlfriend, the loose cannon Phil (Bradley Cooper) learns to love his family and the loner brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis) makes friends out of his cohorts. Galifianakis provides most of the laughs and is the main source of the group’s woes due to his stupid antics, but on the whole, the team gels well as group of misfits. The journey is engaging and only when the end credits roll, showing photographs of the whole two days, are all the holes filled so that we witness the madness in action.

It’s familiar for those who have blacked out after one too many, but the setting of Vegas makes it all the more entertaining. This won’t be a classic comedy and it does carry the same crazy and gross out comedy we see in this day and age. But then subtle just wouldn’t cut it on the Vegas Strip would it? And if you aren’t looking for the best ever comedy then you will certainly get the kicks from this. Plus, Mike Tyson singing badly to Phil Collins seems a tad over the top, but is surprisingly amusing.

The Hangover official website
 

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