Ryan McNeil
Find any group of four or five guys in their twenties. Five to one odds says that they act like they are living an unfilmed episode of Entourage. The truth is, when guys get together, stupidity usually ensues. When guys get together with drinks and drugs in tow, the stupidity is assured. When the guys get together with drinks and drugs in tow in Vegas…the stupidity goes pro.
One thing I love about movies like this is that I don’t have to waste too many words summarizing the plot. THE HANGOVER is about a groom-to-be Doug and his three groomsmen Alan, Phil, and Stu (Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper, and Ed Helms). Together they go to Las Vegas and have the sort of wild night that one only seems to be able to have in Vegas. The next morning the three groomsmen wake up. There’s a tiger in the bathroom, a baby in the closet, Phil’s wearing a hospital bracelet, and Stu is missing a tooth.
Oh yeah, and Doug is gone.
In something of a “Nancy Drew Meets the Frat Boys” style, the guys try to fight through the worst hangover of their lives, and piece the wild night back together in the hopes of getting Doug to the church on time.
THE HANGOVER is not what I’d call deeply original, but yet it feels like the freshest loaf on the funny shelf. What made the story for me, is the way we never really see for ourselves the hi jinks that the boys got themselves into. Instead we laugh as they piece it all back together and hear second-hand accounts of the dumbassery they unleashed. What makes such a device work so well, is the fact we all tend to learn about many moments of our own drunken stupidity in this very way.
Another thing that helped me feel like I was watching something new, was the fact that the dominant faces of comedy were nowhere to be seen in this movie. THE HANGOVER provides a lot of laughs in a lot of scenes, and none of them are the work of Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughan, Owen/Luke Wilson, John C. Reiley, Seth Roegen, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, or Jason Segal. No offense to any of those guys, some of whom still make me laugh, but it feels at least one or more of them has been in every comedy for the last decade. Hollywood, take a note – it’s time for fresh blood!
Of the three leads, it was Zach Galifianakis that made me laugh most often. He plays awkward amazingly well, often dotting the conversation with lines that feel wickedly awkward…or wickedly inappropriate…or both. While he plays Alan as a simpleton, he does it in a way that doesn’t feel insulting. Maybe it’s the way he manages to spontaneously start singing a tune.
On a lot of days, guys are a rather primitive bunch. But the thing about hanging with the guys is that if they really are your friends, they’ll turn a blind eye. Not in that “what happens in Vegas” way, more on a lower everyday level. They’ll let you wear your man-purse and berate you for it endlessly. They’ll let you date the wrong girl – defend her even – and still have your back.
Still, when trying to dig yourself out of a deep hole ofstupidity, it’s good to know that you have a guy or two willing to shovel right beside you.