The Hangover

Review by Jason Gaston

 

Four friends head off to Las Vegas for a night of bachelor party drinking and mayhem and, upon waking up the next morning, discover that the groom has gone missing and that none of them remember a thing from the night of debauchery before in The Hangover, a comedy about the best night of their lives that no one remembers.

I usually have a very simple way of determining whether a comedy is good enough to see and that is the amount of laughter compared to the price of the ticket.  In the case of The Hangover, I think I might have underpaid the front booth - this movie is never-ending hilarity.  A tacky and outrageous collection of foul-mouthed jokes and various acts of perversity, the kind of which you just don't see that often when it comes to comedies in the United States anymore.

The Hangover is populated with characters who are likable and who you actually want to see succeed because they genuinely care about their missing friend.  This makes you care about their strange journey through Las Vegas and the end of it all, no matter where that seems to be.  The mystery of what transpired the night before is, shall I say, fascinating enough to keep your attention and the humor is consistent enough to ensure a healthy stream of giggles between the guffaws.  Let's face it, The Hangover is a physiological thriller with alcohol and boob jokes.

This movie is not only hilarious, but it is never predictable either.  You don't see the twists and turns on the road ahead coming and some of the outcomes of their machinations are genuinely shocking and surprising.  The lack of any big name stars in the cast (save for a couple of very witty cameos) only adds to the movies realism and everyday feel - even if the "realism" of this movie would never, ever, ever happen to anyone in reality.

This is high class low-brow entertainment that never looses sight of its goals and doesn't waste time on unnecessary fluff.  The Hangover has captured the sights and sounds  of Las Vegas, turning it into a road movie that has the soul of a road movie and has also captured the devil may care spirit of those great comedies like Animal House.

Every time I say this I usually end up eating my words, but I believe that The Hangover is destined to be a comedy classic.  The pacing is perfect, the actors are great in their roles, and the laughs are consistently present.  This is the best comedy I have seen of the 2009 offerings and even now, sitting in my air-conditioned office and reminiscing about seeing this movie, I am still giggling.

That's the mark of a great comedy.