Dir.
Todd Phillips, US, 2009, 100 mins
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Heather Graham, Jeffrey Tambor
Review By Matthew Rodgers
Old School director Todd Phillips has done the unimaginable and brought us a hangover that we can actually immensely enjoy. In fact, this is quite possibly the only hangover that you'll want to experience over and over again. Oh, there is pain involved, both from your aching sides and guaranteed face cramp, but mainly for the hapless quartet that cross that comedy taste line more often than the mainstream norm allows. Think stun-gun to the face, simulated sex with a tiger, Mike Tyson singing “In the air tonight”, self dentistry, and you only begin to skim the brilliance of this comedic Memento.
It all begins with a last-ditch phone call to an anxious bride who's awaiting her absent husband to be on the dawn of their special day. Said groom Doug (Justin Bartha – National Treasure) has been missing for 48 hours, ever since a roof-top toast atop a Vegas hotel with his stag buddies – Phil, (Bradley Cooper – Alias), Stu (Ed Helms – The Office: An American Workplace), and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) – triggered a series of unbelievable events that start with the mother of all hangovers and unleash the hilarious haze of recollection that makes up the movie.
Much like their attempts to retrace the previous night, it's hard to know where to begin when looking back over The Hangover. So let's start with the things we didn't know about in the first place, the actors.
Every single one of this ramshackle rat-pack will be made a certifiable star with this film. Cooper emanates an effervescent charm that borders on arrogance, but he embraces the opportunity to be the fun-loving “prick”. This is a man who funds his trip to Vegas with his class's field trip money after all. Helms' character has probably the largest arc and his final reel catharsis is clap-worthy comedy. The talking point will though without doubt be the emergence of the bearded Galifiankis as Alan, in that we're almost unsure whether or not it's right to laugh at him. At one point Stu comments that he is “literally too stupid to insult”. Alan's retort is “thank you”. One warms to his simple ways and cartoonish behaviour, he steals every scene, and that's no mean feat with the level of slapstick and wisecrack on display. As Bartha vanishes for the majority of the narrative it's hard to criticise him against the other stand-out turns, but after his poor show in the National Treasure franchise, less here is definitely more.
Every scene has at least one single throw-away one-liner - “thanks a lot Bin-Laden”- but the real highlights come in the form of the initial morning after moments, which will resonate with anyone prone to a few too many babychams of an evening.
It has to be said that this won't be to everyone's taste as the comedy can veer towards the shadier aspects of acceptability, and the laughs do deteriorate (slightly) as the plot spirals towards darker territory. Unfortunately, the lack of strong female characters in this genre generally rears its ugly head again (and Sex and the City's walking handbags don't count!!) adding strippers, whiny brides, and oppressive girlfriends to the list of stereotypes that comedy queen Tina Fey must battle single handily against in the real world. But that's not a reflection on the film. It's never aspiring to be anything more than an unabashedly juvenile, but undeniably brilliant comedy that will take some beating this year.
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