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.jpg) Here we have “The Hangover,” a film that had praise heaped upon it since its first test screening. So is it really one of the best comedies ever made? Certainly not, but it is one of the best comedies, if not the best comedy, of 2009.
At its core, “The Hangover” is a buddy movie mixed with a who-done-it. The film is largely in the same vein as “Dude Where’s My Car?” While I loathed that film with every once of my being, “The Hangover” fares much better in my book because it’s about characters that have a trace of humanity.
The plot is nothing new; four friends head to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. Doug is getting married and all he wants to do is have a fun night with his friends Phil and Stu, along with his fiancée’s brother Alan. Doug is played by Justin Bartha, Stu by Ed Helms, Phil by Bradley Cooper and Alan by Zach Galifianakis. They do have a fun night. They have too much fun, actually, and wake up the next morning with no memory of what happened the night before. All they know is Doug is missing, Stu has lost a tooth, the hotel suite is in disarray and there is a tiger in the hotel bathroom.
All they have to do is retrace their crazy night and find Doug so they can get him back before his wedding.
A lot of the acclaim that “The Hangover” has been getting is well deserved. The film is truly very funny, due to the comedic performances of the four leads. But, I have to be realistic here. This film isn’t one of the best comedies ever; not even close. The film does do some very hilarious things, but for a film to truly be remarkable, it must break new ground.
“The Hangover” doesn’t break any new ground along its path. What ground it treads is tried and true comedic territory, but this isn’t a film that blew me away with its original story. It’s standard comedic faire. The question I had to ask myself is; can a film be great if it doesn’t do anything new. While I believe the answer to this question varies film to film, this film is great because it does standard comedic things very, very well.
This film comes to live due to the performances of the leads. After the first few minutes, Cooper’s character becomes the straight man, trying to calm everyone down in a situation that is quickly escalating. “The Hangover” is as funny as it is because of the performances of Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis. Helms plays the uptight doctor, someone who wants to have fun, but hates losing control. Upon his loss of control, he becomes manic, crazed and angry, mixed with a crippling depression that only Helms could portray. The movie isn’t totally about Stu, but Helms steals each scene.
Nobody says crazy things in a funny way like Zack Galifianakis. In “The Hangover,” he plays Alan, the new member to the group of friends. He’s eccentric and has a level headed reaction to the downright crazy things that are going on around him. Zach is the highlight of this film as almost every thing he says is quotable. He’s a hilarious character and Galifianakis fits him perfectly.
Sure the film has some gags that have been seen in hundreds of other films. There’s the classic scene where a once asleep animal wakes up in the back seat of a filled car. In this film, this scene just underlines how the film isn’t breaking any new ground, but by the time the scene happens, I was having too much fun to really care. It’s certainly not the best comedy ever made, but “The Hangover” packs enough laughs into its 100 minutes to be completely worthwhile.
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