Hey everyone, continuing to play catch-up here, as I've still got a bunch of things to talk about from the last couple of weeks. With this post, I've got a couple more summer movie reviews I've been meaning to get to, the first of which is below -- so ... enjoy!
THE HANGOVER Review:
- The Hangover is one of those movies that is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. When I saw it in a packed theater filled with teens and twenty-somethings, the audience was laughing harder and more frequently than at almost any movie I've seen. It's just one of those films that snares you in a vice-like grip of comedy and doesn't let up. Now, is The Hangover a movie that's going to change the face of comedy? No, not really. In fact, in some ways it's somewhat generic. It's one of those movies that you remember laughing a lot at, but then find it hard to recall any particular stand-out moments or lines of dialogue. Part of it is definitely that this is a "shock-value" comedy ... a lot of the humor comes from there simply being a long string of one outrageous moment after another. Like I said, it's a movie that grabs you from the get-go and keeps on delivering the funny. If you're looking for a fun summer comedy that is sure to please, this is it.
A lot of the credit for The Hangover's success has to go to the stellar cast. In less capable hands, the material could have come off as a lot weaker. Bradley Cooper is perfectly fine as the lead, and I'm sure that his solid comic timing and likable manner here will lead to a lot of other similar parts in the vein of this one. Really though, the movie shines thanks to Ed Helms and Zack Galifianakis, both of whom are pretty darn awesome, and both of whom are long overdue for the spotlight. Helms, so funny on The Daily Show and The Office, is surprisingly the movie's emotional center, and probably plays its strongest character overall. Although, given his great turn as Andy Bernard on The Office, it's not a stretch for Helms to be playing a somewhat repressed, buttoned-up guy with a crazy side. But Ed Helms steals a ton of scenes in the movie, and his relationship with his nightmare of a wife, played by Rachel Harris, is the source of a lot of the movie's best scenes. Meanwhile, Galifianakis plays the Will Ferell-ish character here - aka the completely insane man-child who may or may not be a legit mental case. He completely nails the role though, and his goofy delivery is pitch-perfect. He's great with the more physical comedy too. Overall, The Hangover is a huge breakout movie for both Ed Helms and Zack G - both are hilarious in this one.
The other guy who really kicks ass here is Ken Jeong, who is quickly becoming one of the great unsung heroes of comedy. I recently read an article about Jeong explaining how, until recently, he was actually a practicing physician who only dabbled in comedy as a hobby. Pretty amazing, because the guy is not only hilarious, but absolutely fearless. He's one of those guys who looks so unassuming that all of the shocking stuff he does and says is just off-the-chain funny. And man, does he ever say and do some shocking stuff in this one. Let's just say there is full-frontal nudity involved. Yikes.
There are also a lot of talented people in smaller roles. No real huge scene stealers, but hey, when you've got Jeffrey Tambor popping up for essentially a cameo, you know you've got a good cast. On the other hand, some of the talent isn't quite used to their full potential. Rob Riggle for example, who is typically hilarious, doesn't have much to work with here. Mike Tyson, in his much-hyped cameo role, is kind of useless. Sure, there is something absurdly funny about Mike Tyson popping up in a movie like this, but it's more a laugh-because-it-seems-like-it-should-be-funny type of thing.
I guess the other thing is that, like director Todd Philip's previous comedy, Old School, there's just something about the attitude of this movie that turns me off a bit. Even as I was laughing at some of the outrageous gags, I couldn't help but think that the movie had a kind of obnoxious sensibility to it. You know what I mean ... it's one of those movies where all of the main characters are basically assholes, and yet they're portrayed as being cool and funny guys who you'd want to hang out with. It's a movie that glorifies the act of going to Vegas and getting wasted to the point of blacking out and not remembering what you did the night before. Where drunken adventures where you do stupid stuff are portrayed as the end-all be-all of good times. The movie half-heartedly tries to de-glamorize these ideas, but not really. At the end of the day, we're supposed to root for these guys who basically come off like semi-obnoxious yuppie Gen-X d-bags.
But yeah, The Hangover is a lot of fun in spite of the above rant. I laughed a ton while watching it and there were a lot of gags that were genuinely inspired and awesomely over-the-top. Ed Helms, Zak Galifianakas, and Ken Jeong are awesome. Definitely one of the more enjoyable comedies to come along in a while, although I can't rank it above some of the genuinely amazing comedies we've seen thus far in '09 - Observe and Report, Adventureland, etc.
My Grade: B+
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