My boyfriend and I decided to do a double feature this past weekend, and ended up catching The Hangover for the second movie. You would think after Terminator: Salvation a second film would somehow be less interesting, but The Hangover definitely has enough hairpin turns in its plot to keep even someone with ADHD watching and laughing.
Settling in for this movie, I honestly wasn’t expecting much, maybe a predictable story and a few laughs. The Hangover follows three friends searching for their groom-to-be friend who they lost during the bachelor party. When the movie starts, you expect the movie to follow in sequence, from bachelor party to search party, but what you’re greeted with is one of the friends calling home saying, “We f-ed up.” From there the movie ensues with some slapstick, some weird, and some over the top comedic situations. (While I would really like to share some of the humor of the movie with you, it really wouldn’t be fair to you as a reader, so I’m leaving this as is. Deal with it.)
Bradley Cooper stars in the movie as easygoing, bit of a flake Phil. It appears as though Phil was made for Cooper, or maybe it was the other way around (Cooper does have a tendency to play the same character in each movie he has been in), but either way Cooper gave a good performance with well executed comedic timing in his delivery. Ed Helms (The Office) played Stu Price and Zack Galifianakis (channeling a similar character that he developed in Ice Cold) played Allen, the bride’s somewhat odd brother who is the apparent after effect of too many acid trips, round out the bachelor party gang. These two characters make the movie with their idiosyncrasies. Both Helms and Galifianakis are responsible for several bellyaching laughs due not only to their characters but also to their sheer comedic ability. Allen and Stu are two very unique characters that needed very careful casting otherwise the movie would have fallen to ruins. Heather Graham also makes an appearance in the film as a Las Vegas stripper, and Jeffery Tambor had a bit part as the father-in-law.
Most comedies are very forthcoming with their storyline and jokes in the previews, and leave little to the actual meat of the movie, which essentially makes the money spent on the ticket worthless. The Hangover, however, is worth the ten plus dollars per ticket. Well worth it.
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MORE INFORMATION
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http://www.hangovermovie.com
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1119646
