The Hangover [15]


A bachelor party goes horribly wrong.
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The Hangover is a comedy set in Las Vegas in which four guys go on a stag do only to lose the groom - and forget what happened to him. As the three groomsmen endeavour to find Doug (the groom) and the obligatory expositional hurdles have been jumped, the scenarios are outrageous and consistently funny - even if the characters are drawn fairly broadly.

Doug (Justin Bartha) is fairly dull and doesn't really appear for much of the movie; the laughs are drawn from his fellow stags’ exploits as they retrace their drunken steps. Phil (Bradley Cooper) is a teacher who embezzles school trip money to fund the stag do and Stu (Ed Helms) a neurotic dentist. Then there's Doug's idiot savant, soon to be brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis), a man-boy with bizarre taste in underwear and a beard badly in need of a trim. The three awake in their hotel suite with no memory of the night before but having acquired a baby, Mike Tyson's tiger and a chicken. Oh - and in Stu's case, a hooker wife in the comely form of Heather Graham's escort Jade. Will they find Doug and get him to the church on time?! What do you think?

The movie is predictable as hell but the comedy is strong and the cast have a good energy. It helps that none of them are especially well known; we've no expectations so probably come away more satisfied than if the likes of Vince Vaughan or Owen Wilson had been involved. There's way too much tinny pop music throughout the action sequences and the movie is very silly, but enjoyable despite it's formulaic story. It helps that the structure keeps us in the dark as much as it does the addled central characters, keeping our interest even though we know everything will work out alright in the end. Plus, there are some great comedy turns from Helms and Galifianakis.

If you're particularly sensitive, squeamish, or unable to suspend your intelligence for an hour and a half, AVOID this movie. But if you take Phillips' latest offering for what it is, you will not fail to be entertained.

Lindsey Davis, 26/06/09

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