The Hangover

[cinemabon]

With "The Hangover" director Todd Phillips returns to his party style first presented in "Frat House" (1998), "Road Trip" (2000) and "Old School" (2003). Yet, this is not the joke-filled romp through farts and belches as we've seen so often. Rather Phillips presents us with a mystery from the start... where is the groom? The answer to that question is the long slow unraveling of a night that no one remembers after a toast started on the rooftop of a Las Vegas hotel - the tip off to a bachelor party. What follows is a journey by the groomsmen to find the groom in what can only be described as one of the most hilarious and original films since "Something About Mary."

The wedding is set to take place soon and it is up to the groomsmen to solve the mystery surrounding the infamous celebration that starts in a Las Vegas hotel. Bradley Cooper (Phil), Ed Helms (Stu), and Zach Galifianakis (Alan) play the confused trio who wake up in a "high rollers" suite of Caesar's Palace with no clue as to what happened the night before, nor can they find the groom. The room is trashed. The camera reveals several humorous items that would be telling to say what they are. Galifianakis nearly steals the show with the straight delivery of his one liner's ("Caesar never really lived in this palace... did he?") and they don't stop there. The entire film is peppered with classic wit and fast paced action that often comes unexpectedly.

The writing team of Jon Lucas and Scott Moore just penned "Ghosts of girlfriends past" earlier this year. They deliver a cast of unusual characters from a tire-iron wielding Chinese man to boxer Mike Tyson in search of stole property. While the mystery has its resolution as we knew it would, the film ends with a hilarious closing credits that kept every person in their seats.

Raunchy humor yes... but very funny raunchy humor. Recommended.

[Chris Knipp]

I guess if "Caesar never really lived in this palace, did he?" strikes you as hilarious, you're in for a great two hours.

A generally well-reviewed movie with lots of raunchy laughs as you say, but I didn't quite see why Ashton Kutcher's 'What Happens in Vegas' last year, which had very much the same plot and assumptions was trashed (Metaxcritic 43), while this gets higher praise than most of the other current movies showing (Meatcritic 73). I'd rather watch Ashton and Cameron Diaz, and that parallel version of the drunken night in Vegas marriage debacle, with many of the same (cliche) assumptions is an amiable screwball comedy without the raunch. Admittedly, 'The Hangover' has more going on, but that didn't make it funner for me. I didn't want to be a spoil-sport so I didn't write a review of it. I'm sure all you say is true, and the movie deserved a thread.

[oscar jubis]

I arrived at the multiplex with time to spare for a second viewing of the magnificent UP and decided to sample about 20 minutes of the middle of The Hangover. My sister, my brother and his wife had found it very funny. The segment I watched included a bit about an Asian fellow who had kidnapped a black man with the same name as the (white) guy he intended to kidnap. And some business about a missing guy eventually found on a roof, trippin'. I decided this is not a film I would find amusing. On the other hand, I just can't wait for Bruno!...and I will give a chance, time permitting, to the new Woody Allen.

[cinemabon]

I'm curious why you (Oscar) didn't write a review of "Up" when it received the highest rating of any film this year?

[oscar jubis]

I actually wrote a first paragraph of a would-be Up review and didn't have time to continue writing it. Not that I don't have a personal take on the film...but there are many very good and very favorable reviews of the film so I decided it wasn't imperative for me to write one.

I invested my time watching the 26-hour Edgar Reitz mini-series The Second Heimat and writing an academic essay about an aspect of Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder (which I posted today sans the original screen captures that truly make it come alive. I don't know if anyone here would have the fortitude to read it but it's there in the Classic Films section).