Worth the price of admission, or a waste of time?
Brian McKechnie and
Suzanne Ellis offer you their take on the latest movies hitting screens. Read their reviews every week, exclusively on
CityNews.ca.
Let Brian and Suzanne know what you think of
His Take/Her Take via email at brian.mckechnie@citynews.ca or suzanne.ellis@citynews.ca .
THE HANGOVER
Rated R
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis
Directed by: Todd Phillips
Official Site IMDb
Three groomsmen lose their friend in Las Vegas while celebrating his bachelor party.
Brian's Take
**** out of 5 stars
It's been two days and I'm still in pain from
The Hangover. In pain because I can't stop laughing. It is hands down one of the funniest films of the last few years and it doesn't waste any time not being funny. Is it for everyone? No. But if you laughed at the trailer and thought, "That looks funny!" run to the theatre cause you won't be disappointed.
Three buddies take their friend to Vegas for his bachelor party. The night starts with shots of Jager and then...it's the next morning and the groom to be is missing. And there's a tiger and a baby in their hotel room. What happened? That's the adventure you're about to take as the movie unfolds. It's a smarter, funnier, more sophisticated take on the idea behind
Dude, Where's My Car? I'm not going to spoil any of it but I will say: when you think it could get silly it doesn't - it gets funnier.
I don't think the film would have worked with a different cast. Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha and Zach Galifianakis carried this movie. Cooper, Helms and Bartha were convincing as long-time friends Phil, Stu and Doug. They mixed well and really played off each other's strengths. Galifianakis plays Doug's outrageous soon-to-be-brother-in-law Alan. If you've ever seen Galifianakis's online show
Between Two Ferns you'll know he's not always playing with a full deck but his delivery is amazing. I wouldn't be surprised to see him take the top spot from Seth Rogen for the next round of big comedies.
Helms is the other big stand-out here. The way Will Ferrell stole
Old School (also directed by Todd Phillips) from Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson, Helms steals
The Hangover from everyone, even Galifiankis. He was so dedicated to the film he even removed his tooth for real (it was a permanent cap he's had since childhood). Although he's mostly known for playing Andy on
The Office (and as a former correspondent on
The Daily Show) this is his breakout role and I'm sure he'll be a household name in a few years.
The one downside to the film is the female characters (or lack thereof). Jade (Heather Graham) is a stripper with a heart of gold, Melissa (Rachel Harris) is a controlling girlfriend and Tracy (Sasha Barrese) is only there to fill the role of the bride. Given Todd Phillips's filmography this is not much of a surprise. He makes movies for guys about guys that do dumb things. The women in the crowd enjoyed it just as much (see Suzanne's review below) because underneath it all the movie did its job at making you laugh.
The Hangover, like
Old School, is a movie you'll be able to watch multiple times and still laugh. I myself am looking forward to seeing it again and again and again....
Suzanne's Take
**** out of 5 stars
Move over Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, and Luke Wilson.
Meet the new guys: Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper, and Zach Galifianakis. They're the stars of
The Hangover, a hilarious exercise in debauchery and excess from the makers of
Old School.
Director Todd Phillips's latest outing takes the saying, 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,' to the extreme, putting its leads in extraordinary and often excruciating circumstances over the course of 48 hours. It all starts innocently enough: Doug (Justin Bartha) is getting married in two days, and his best friends Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and soon-to-be-brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis) are taking him on a road trip to Las Vegas for his bachelor party.
How crazy can one night in Sin City be? Let's just say the guys find out, when they wake up the morning after in a trashed Caesar's Palace suite, half-dressed, with a tiger in the bathroom, a baby in the closet, and groom-to-be Doug nowhere in sight. That's essentially where this film begins, as Phil, Stu and Alan are forced to retrace their steps in order to find out where along the way they lost their buddy.
This is not a comedy for the faint of heart or easily offended, although those who've seen
Old School probably know what to expect from a Todd Phillips film. It's dark, it's gross, it's outrageous, but above all it's wickedly funny, owing to a clever script by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore and the interaction between the leads.
Bradley Cooper may well be the nicest guy on the planet but the truth is no one does odious better -- Phil's an elementary school teacher and the first scene sees him pocketing his students' field trip money for the bachelor party. For most of the film, however, he plays the straight man to worrywart Stu (Helms) and generally bizarre Alan (Galifianakis).
The hunt for Doug is filled with its own perils as the guys reap what they sowed the night before. The cops are out to get them, as is former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson, and the posse of the small but threatening Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong). There's also the matter of how Stu managed to lose a tooth (in reality Helms has a tooth implant - it was removed for the duration of the shoot).
Watch for Helms and Galifianakis to get a lot more attention in the years to come. So far both have been on the fringe - Helms had a role in the U.S. version of
The Office, and Galifianakis is known mainly for his stand-up comedy - but I wouldn't be surprised if their work in this puts them on the map in a major way. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the work of Will Ferrell, Seth Rogen, and Ben Stiller, but it's nice to see some new blood in the comedy genre.
Oh, and not that you would, but don't even think about leaving the theatre when the end credits come up. You'll understand why when you see it.
The Hangover: destined to become a classic.