Movie-The Hangover

Many times movies like The Hangover (2009) disappoint me. But I am happy to say that The Hangover did not...this was a very funny, and smartly written movie. Starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha as four men who take a trip to Vegas for a bachelor party, the movie stays away (mostly) from the usual cliches, and in fact, pokes fun at them.

The guys are in Vegas, and we see them having toast before they hit the town. We next see them waking up in their completely trashed suite the next morning, not remembering a damn thing that happened the night before. Now the usual movie of this sort would just go to flashbacks right here, but not The Hangover. The men wake up to clues all around them...a live chicken, a tiger in the bathroom, a missing tooth and a baby in the closet. As they realize that the groom to be is missing, they set off in search of him, and the car that is brought to them is a police car. "What the hell did we do last night?" And they follow the clues to get some answers. And we follow in hilarious lockstep with them.

Galifianakas plays the soon to be brother-in-law misanthrope. And he is brilliant in the role. The other three men are quite good too (and Sharlynn REALLY enjoyed watching Bradley Cooper. An excellent performance by Heather Graham, the stripper that is so honest about who she is, that we get past that she just uses stripping to hook up for her escorting practice.

The journey the guys make to find their friend is not straight forward...they find pieces of their story in non linear fashion, and work to put it all together. And the effect is just plain funny. I think the movie will go down as a comic classic of this decade. And it has so many funny throwaway lines, that it will also be one of the most quoted movies for some time:

“Whose baby is that?”
“Check its collar or something.”

Stu: “Am I missing a tooth?

Alan: I’m sure you get this a lot, but is this really Ceasar’s Palace?
Hotel Clerk: What do you mean?
Alan: Did Ceasar really live here?
Hotel Clerk: No
Alan: Didn’t think so

Doug: I always wondered why they were called roofies. Cause you're more likely to end up on the floor than the roof. They should call em groundies.
Alan Garner: Or rapies.

and so many others.

The Hangover is smart and damn funny. It is a movie I will buy, as I think it will keep me laughing well into my 80s.