This brash, boastful boys’ comedy guarantees to deliver the gags. A story of four blokes let loose in Las Vegas in an attempt to celebrate one man’s last night of freedom, turns into the most explosive catastrophe in the history of stag dos.
Doug (Justin Bartha) is a hunky, sensible groom-to-be, about to embark on the most excessive, intoxicating party weekend of all time. His companions on this booze-laden extravaganza include his two best friends: slick and sociable party man Phil (Bradley Cooper) and under-the-thumb, nerdy dentist Stu (Ed Helms); plus (by far the most hilarious addition to the group) Doug’s future brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis). Overweight, hairy and with a cringe-worthy yet perfectly timed enigmatic humour, Galifianakis’s comedic style is Jack Black-esque. Whilst he’s reasonably well known in the US for small film roles and TV appearances, The Hangover displays Galifianakis’s true talent that will no doubt catapult him onto the mainstream US comedy scene.
Bachelor-mania begins when the gang head to gambling capital Las Vegas and immediately demand the most extravagant apartment that the deluxe hotel has to offer in a bid to truly embrace the ethos “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”. Awakening the following morning with the mother of all headaches, completely unable to recall any memories from the previous night, the crew come to the horrifying realization that they’ve lost their stag. Amongst the hysteria they successfully ignore the rubble which was previously their lush hotel suite- with burnt furniture, mountains of empty beer bottles, blow-up dolls, a chicken, a tiger and an anonymous baby scattered across the hotel apartment. The group endeavour to locate Doug whilst trying to uncover the mysteries of what happened the previous night.
As the film progresses it dawns on the boys that they’ve got themselves into a far bigger pile of dung than they’d wished for. Through a series of encounters of strippers, drug dealers and gangsters it becomes clear that theft, vandalism, marriage, kidnapping and a trip to the hospital was amongst the debauchery that took place on the evening preceding the hangover of all hangovers.
Time ticks by and before long it’s 5 hours to the wedding ceremony and still the groom is lost in Las Vegas. With a gang of camp Chinese gangsters demanding $80,000 and an anxious Bride-to-be on the end of a phone, things are not looking good for the lads.
The Hangover does drunken man humor far better than previous attempts such as Super Bad. Funny one-liners means fans of Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller and Jack Black will enjoy this light-hearted stag movie. Do watch it if you’re a lad about to head off on a beer-laden boys’ adventure. Don’t watch it if you’re the Bride to be.
