The Hangover - For a Night of Debauchery, Leave the Kids at Home
Written: Jul 06 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper, Jeffrey Tambor- excellent cast, great laughs
Cons: a bit more than offensive toward minorities, random and unnecessary nudity
The Bottom Line: The Hangover is without a doubt the funniest film all year.
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| t13monkeys's Full Review: The Hangover |
The parents who brought their kids to the theater I feel a bit bad for because in no way is The Hangover kid-friendly. Yes, some rated R comedies are in actuality innocuous and might flash a boobie or two, but The Hangover is not one of those comedies, and throws everything it can at it's audiences (and appropriately so since it's in Vegas), including strippers and even the occasional penis. Despite the shock-comedy sets though, it still manages to find a rather thin but impressive line between flat out stupid and snarky sarcasm. This great balance has made it a hit with critics and audiences, although there were a few bits that marred an otherwise solid experience.
The trailer sums it up best with the short scene with Phil (Bradley Cooper) out in the desert proclaiming to the bride- "We lost Doug". On a bachelor's party out to Vegas- four guys, Phil, Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha) get themselves into a boatload of trouble- and the all too infamous mantra of "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" rears its ugly head.
Give it up to the really funny cast to carry this film all the way. The Hangover's snarky lines add more than just outrageous gotcha bits to the film, and of course the star power of Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms (The Office) offer plenty of laughs. Add that to the surprisingly funny Zach Galifianakis and the cameo with Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) and you have a very well rounded cast.
The Hangover is what it is- raw guy humor at its finest, crude, offensive, but occasionally riot-inducing. Drawbacks include though the offensiveness in its portrayal of racial stereotypes- black Doug, of course, ends up being the drug dealer, and an Asian gay mobster that still speaks like a caricature in this day and age only prolongs stupid stereotypes that have long gotten old. Yeah, SNL might be more offensive on its worst days- but the problem is that The Hangover doesn't so much poke fun of the stereotype as it does to just openly offend.
Then there's the random sex and nudity- with the biggest shocker being that the film goes to the seldom seen on screen penis in the context of oral sex to punctuate some of it's punchlines in a way that kind of undoes the not-so crude beginning of the film. Expect it to ramp its way up from mildly offensive to super offensive by 2nd half and you'll be ok.
So even though I was in tears half the film with the on and off jokes that sometimes really got me and other times not so much, I'm still hesitant to give The Hangover a total thumbs up just because of those few stipulations. The incredibly backwards portrayal of minorities on film is too hard to ignore for me (even though I am usually one to say who cares, it's a comedy), and while it manages to be smart enough to be considered pure-slapstick, the puerile pleasures of The Hangover are still guilty ones. Recommended for the most part.
Recommended:
Yes
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t13monkeys
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