Enough cinema-going has taught me that it takes great skill to successfully produce a truly hilarious film comedy; The Hangover, directed by Todd Phillips, succeeds in being one of these skilfully produced flicks.
Film comedy reviews always say … well, you know the type of thing: ’it’s a side splitter’, ’a laugh a minute,’ ’it’s pant wettingly funny’, and genuinely and honestly this picture is all of these. However, though this movie is hugely entertaining, it does have one major flaw - but more about this later.
Doug (Justin Bartha - National Treasure) the bridegroom-to-be, is the level headed, sensible and dependable one, heading off on a ‘road trip bachelor party’ to Las Vegas with his two friends, Phil (Bradley Cooper - Yes Man) and Stu (Ed Helms - American series of The Office) and his oddball, soon-to-be brother-in-law, Alan (Zach Galifianakis - Visioneers).
After commencing their weekend of partying on the roof of a hotel, the film jumps forward to reveal their staggeringly trashed, $42,000 a night suite ,with the piles of champagne bottles and general chaos, but wait, why’s there a tiger in the bathroom and a baby in the closet? Here the pace soon quickens as the trio try to remember what happened the night before and, most importantly, where the groom has disappeared to. So begins a series of well executed comic episodes which definitely keep the audience’s attention.
The film plot occasionally gives us a startling jolt as it takes us in unanticipated directions, like the friends being unwitting targets of a drive-by-shooting or the violent attack by an angry, naked man who jumps from the boot of their car.
Phil, the unscrupulous teacher and ‘eye candy’ of the piece, is the leading man holding everyone and everything together; rallying and organising the other two on their mission to bring back Doug. Indeed, the whole film is dedicated to the trio’s almost detective-like hunt, establishing their previous whereabouts to find clues to lead them back to the groom. Bradley Cooper plays the part exceptionally well, being smooth, clever and delivering his lines with a slick polish and relaxed, laid back style.
Fans of TV’s comedy quiz show, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, will recognise Galifianakis’ Alan as being like the weird team leader, Bill Bailey. The character produces witty, yet incredibly silly one-liners, pulled out of thin air to fit every occasion. Alan delivers these in a deadpan manner, blissfully unaware that he’s viewed as being strange and a bit of a whack job.
Stu, who is a frustrated dentist desperately trying to masquerade as a doctor, is the ‘nerdy’, ‘square‘ character, totally domineered by his control freak of a girlfriend. For most of the film he lives in fear of taking risks – apart from his drunken impromptu wedding to Jade (Heather Graham - Miss Conception)!
Admittedly, as the film censors might say, there’s a lot of ‘bad language, sexual references and adult humour’ throughout this film, so it’s definitely not for the easily offended.
However as mentioned above, there is a problem, which is that again Hollywood only sees fit to cast the few Black and Asian characters in this picture in stereotypical roles. For instance, there’s the black drug dealer, also called Doug (Mike Epps - Hancock), and the typecast Mike Tyson, who plays himself as the slightly crazed, slightly psychotic and violently unpredictable man that he’s been depicted as by the media. There’s also the Chinese mafia character of Mr Chow (Ken Jeong - Knocked Up), who jumps naked from the trunk of a car, violently hitting the friends. It’s disappointing that even when there is cultural diversity on the small or big screen, actors are still given negative and stereotypical roles.
Overall verdict: Outstandingly funny, but it would have benefited from a more balanced portrayal of Black and Asian characters.
Reviewer: Dee Davis