Country:
USA
Recognizable Faces:
Bradley Cooper
Zach Galifianakis
Heather Graham
Jeffrey Tambor
Mike Tyson
Directed By:
Todd Phillips
There are movies a real man must have seen to claim a Darwinian superiority on his peers. Anything that Clint Eastwood start in is mandatory. Same for the first Star Wars trilogy. There is no scientific reasoning behind those imperatives, it's just something that guys do. Lately, I've been stigmatized by my friends about that Hangover movie, which was apparently the funniest thing since Ace Ventura. "BEN, IT'S FUNNY AND FUCKED UP AT THE SAME TIME, YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS SHIT OR YOU'RE NOT A MAAAAAN". Last Monday, I was reborn into manhood apparently and checked out The Hangover.
So, Doug Billings (Justin Bartha) is about to get married. But first, his friends prepared him a nasty bachelor party in Las Vegas. A major issue happening over there, they all black out during the evening and end up losing Doug. So Phil (Cooper), Stu (Helms) and Doug's weirdo new brother in law Alan (Galifianakis)embark on a quest to piece up the memories from the bachelor party and find their buddy before his wedding. They will realize it's easy to be stupid in Vegas for one night, but not to make amends.
The movie is articulated about a joke that no one remembers. It's an ingenuous plot device, borrowed from crime fiction (the amnesia device, just think Jason Bourne). I wouldn't have a problem with it if it wasn't a comedy. Because of that narrative choice, the humor is delivered to the viewers little by little, joke by joke, drop by drop. Don't get me wrong, when it decides to be crass, it's pretty funny and had me laughing out loud, but the movie is so entrenched in its storyline and takes itself so seriously that those heartily laughs were few and far between. I heard the sound of my own voice five or six times during The Hangover. My favorite joke being the running gag with the Chinese mob boss.
I also have two big problems with this movie. First, it's one of those films draws a tender portrait of irresponsibility. Males are so irresponsible, but it's cool because they just want to have fun and recuperate their lost youth. By representing males like this, Hollywood is turning a whole generation of young boys into this strange archetype. There are other pleasures than losing yourself in alcohol. It's a cardboard depiction of male characters and while it was cute for a moment, it's getting boring twelve years after The Big Lebowski.
Also, have you seen how women were portrayed in this movie? The only relevant female protagonist is a stripper (Heather Graham) who is dumb but oh so Vegas-wise and sympathetic. Other female characters are seen mostly on a brass pole during the ending montage or even better, Tracy (the beautiful Sasha Barrese) as "the trophy bride". She literally has NO ROLE in the movie whatsoever except to coerce Doug and the boys into coming back home for the wedding. Other movies replace the Tracy-Plot-Device with a time bomb or a nameless terrorist with hostages, it's the same. In the end, she's the object of love, where the other women were objects of desire. Other name, same shit.
The Hangover would have been great as a slapstick comedy in the tradition of Buster Keaton. Too bad the director drowned his movie in questionable choices from the cast of Bradley Cooper to the rigid mold he imposed to more talented actors like Zach Galifianakis. The Hangover is like the cool kid in school. It can be really funny, but it has a shitty personality.
SCORE: 60%
