The Hangover

Director: Todd Phillips
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha.
Distributor: Warner Brothers
Runtime: 99 mins. Reviewed in Nov 2011

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Rating notes: Strong sexual references, coarse language and nudity

The title probably indicates whether you want to see this film or not. It promises to deal with drinking, the after-effects – and not everyone finds jokes about drunkenness funny. This is compounded by the fact that the hangover follows a raucous, very raucous, bachelor party in Las Vegas.

The Hangover presents a few challenges to the reviewer. On the one hand, the four central characters indulge in the American tradition of the bachelor party and its letting down of all guards and they show an alarming immaturity in their behaviour with the screenplay wanting to let them off as much as possible. Many crass sequences and, especially, language.

On the other hand, it is often funnier than one might expect. In fact, despite their crassness, the four men are more sympathetic than usual (and we don’t see many details of their wild behaviour until a series of photos during the final credits). And, in fact, the crassness is not as crass as it usually is in this kind of film (like the 1980s Bachelor Party or Todd Phillips’ buddy film, Old School). One could say that there is a pleasanter context for the crassness which lightens it and highlights the humour rather than the vulgarity.

The plot has some mad twists and turns, including a tiger in the bathroom (with the tiger belonging to Mike Tyson who makes a cameo appearance), a baby in the refrigerator and a naked Chinese gangster in the boot of a car.

Justin Bartha is the bridegroom who spends a lot of the film missing. His searching buddies include Bradley Cooper as the leader of the troop, Ed Helms as a straight-laced dentist with a harridan of a girlfriend who controls him and is always ringing up – and who has an extraordinary suppressed sub-conscious which breaks out at a wedding chapel with Heather Graham – and stand-up comedian Zach Galifianakis, who initially seems so crass but whose dumbness leads to quite some humour and even likeableness.

Not a must see but, for those who enjoy some broad humour, better than might have been expected. The Hangover 2 is in preparation!