You ever have that problem articulating how you feel about a film and then you read someone who basically sums it all for you and then, you’re like “Jesus, fuck already, crap!”
Yeah, that’s how we felt. So Movieline‘s Seth Abramovitch’s opening paragraph to his review of Todd Phillips’ “The Hangover” is pretty much exactly how we felt. We thought about rewriting the same idea over and over again all day, but realized we were, tired, hungry, lazy and more inarticulate than usual.
“I came to The Hangover ready to laugh. More than ready: I came primed, as if my entire life (for the past six weeks) had been leading up to witnessing for my own eyes this blinding, white supernova of funny. If I were to do it all over again, I’d probably lower those expectations by 30%. It’s frequently amusing, and almost always entertaining. It’s in truth way above average for your typical dudes-acting-stupid movie. But it’s also far from a classic.”
And that’s pretty much it. There’s some deliciously wicked laughs in the Sin City romp, Zack Galifianakis’ dimwitted, semi-retarded character steals the show (Dustin Hoffman’s “Rain Man” character meets, well… Galifianakis), and the plot — as you can imagine — is a little bit clunkier than what you’re normally willing to expect from a low-brow frat comedy. That is to say, you’re not looking for plot or expecting sharp writing aside from comedy, but you’re at least anticipating a semi-coherent story. And while “The Hangover” has a basic structure that’s easy enough to follow, it does have a stop-start rhythm that’s distracts, and precludes it from becoming the full-on laugh explosion that it promises and flirts with. There’s definitely a lull in the second half, but just when you start to think it’s dead in the water, the pacing picks up again and the laughs come fast and furious — especially in the ridiculous/awesome conclusion that plays out in the credits. We won’t spoil it for you, though Vulture already did that.
And as wonky as the narrative engine is (though the opening prologue that kicks off the tale is inventive), the story is rather clever. It subverts the bachelor party blueprint, by never showing the bachelor party (ok, almost never, stay til the end). Sure, that’s not exactly rocket science and one can argue that ‘Hangover’ apes the plot of “Dude Where’s My Car?” — jackasses wake up clueless and with hangovers and have to solve the mystery of what happened to their automobile. Hitchock and high-concept it ain’t, but it’s basically an absurd detective story that isn’t as absurdist in tone as one might expect (as say compared to maybe “Step-Brothers” which was impossibly silly).
Only this time the missing item is the groom, who in this instance is kind of like the Private Ryan in “Saving Pvt. Ryan.” Soldiers, errr, 30-something jagoffs, have to track down and find their awol friend so they can accomplish their mission: bringing him home safe so he can get married in 48 hours (and sure, straight-man groom Justin Bartha isn’t exactly part of the story, but couldn’t they have at least found an more engaging actor? Even Spielberg got Matt Damon for his third act).
The film does score points for not just taking the “Old School” formula and dropping in new placeholder actors for the Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson characters. In fact, it’s not even four buddies on a Vegas adventure story. It’s three buddies and one, unwanted brother-in-law (Galifianakis weirdo, rophynol-enthusiast character), who’s present more out of guilt rather than true friendship and it’s this small twist that makes the dynamic — two best friends Bradley Cooper & Ed Helms and an outsider they outwardly dislike — slightly more unique (again, it’s not Shakespeare).
The Mike Tyson section of the story — in their debauchery these jerkwads discover that they break into the house of the ex heavyweight champion and steal his pet tiger — isn’t anywhere as funny as it sounds and Tyson himself is a little awkward. There’s a lot of swinging for the fences comedy that also doesn’t always work. Ken Jeong’s Mr. Chow nemesis character is part Asian minstrel show, part hilarious. You’re laughing and then guffawing in the same sequence (too bad there wasn’t more of Jeffrey Tambor, he’s fantastically droll. Heather Graham? She shows her boobs. Yes, we know you’re shocked there).
Many have asked us how it compares to Judd Apatow films, but in many ways they’re apples and oranges. Apatow does heart n’ balls serio-comedies and Phillips doesn’t even really bother with much of a sweet spot or tender moments and tends to just aim the football straight for the nutsack of profaneness. There’s nothing wrong with that if done well, but it’s just something to note. Phillips eschews any point either. While something like “I Love You, Man” (certainly Apatow-ian, thought not made by) essentially is about the value of friendship, even the buddies tone of ‘Hangover’ isn’t trying to say anything remotely deep, let alone remotely puddle-deep. It’s about having a good time and hanging on for the ride.
Here we are analyzing a fucking fratastic comedy (that is not that fratty per se, btw) and probably putting more thought into it than the filmmakers did themselves. Bottom line? While “The Hangover” must be seen as a return to form for Todd Phillips — and what isn’t after “School For Scoundrels” — it’s just not perfect and or as funny as one hopes. That’s managing your expectations a little. It is riotously funny in moments (again, Galifianakis’ clearly improvisational riffs are gut-busting) and there some excellent amusing choices of balla-playa music (Rihanna, Ludacris) used to give off the air that these losers think they’re pimp, but it’s just, well, not a supernova of comedy that we hoped for (the Danzig that kicks off the film is pretty great too). That said, it’s tremendously enjoyable for the most part. Just keep those expectations in check. But, best credits reveal in a film ever? Top 10 of this decade that’s for sure. [B]
Talk of a sequel may have been premature, but Warner Bros. undeniably still has a lot of confidence and high hopes for this one. We’re curious to see where it’ll go and hopefully if they do give it another shot, they can work out the kinks.