The Hangover
Unconventional in its structure, but conventional in its laughs, The Hangover is a movie that succeeds in a handful of ways: the cast is pitch-perfect. But it leaves something wanting in others: the plot is wildly preposterous. The entire movie hinges on these two things: its pitch-perfect cast and its wildly preposterous plot. The problem is this: you need more than these two things to have a great movie in the end.
Todd Phillips, who directed Old School and Starsky and Hutch, knows what he’s doing when it comes to slapstick comedy. He picks the right people who do the right things, like starting fraternities or stealing tigers (and babies), and in the end it all works out. Again, though, many times the point of a story is not what happens in the end, but how we get to that end. With that premise, this movie does work. We know where it’s going to end up, we just don’t know how exactly. We see hilariously hungover men trying to piece together what happened the night before in order to find their missing friend, who, appropriately enough, is the groom, and he’s getting married the next day.
Stringing together absurd plot points with the conventions of slapstick, Phillips pulls it all together to make a coherent movie in most respects. Bradley Cooper (Yes Man, He’s Just Not That Into You), Ed Helms (The Office), and Zach Galifianakis (comedian and ‘that guy from Out Cold‘) have great comedic chemistry and play very well together. The supporters are good, too, and all around the acting doesn’t leave too much to be desired. It is, after all, slapstick comedy. If a handful of actors will commit to it, you’ll probably end up with a pretty enjoyable film.
That being said, this film is enjoyable. I had a good number of laugh-out-loud moments. But it isn’t consistently hilarious, a problem of writing, I think, not of acting, in this case. If you’re aching for a laugh, then this movie is probably for you. You won’t laugh all the way through, but you’ll enjoy it. And with the comedy selection in theaters right now, I think this is your best bet.
Rating: 2.5/4 Stars
