The Hangover (2009)

Yeah. I'm going there.

The Hangover
Rating: B+
Watched it: 12/7/10 (most recently)

Okey dokey. First off: it's rated R. There's your fair warning. Second off: I loved it. Judge away. I know it looks like a dumb, raunchy, R comedy/ Frat Pack fart joke fest. I promise, it's so much more. After seeing the trailer, I swore I'd never watch it. But after hearing from some people with similar taste, I figured, "Eh, what could it hurt?" It scarred me, yes, but in a good way. As quotable as Napoleon Dynamite, but so much funnier. And with a legit plot, too!

Here's the basics:
Doug's (Justin Bartha) buddies (Phil, Stu, brother-in-law Alan) take him to Vegas for his bachelor party. They're just gonna spend a night in Caesar's Palace, gamble a little, drink a little, generally have a good time, and head back to LA in plenty of time for the wedding.

The first scene of the movie finds the three non-grooms in the middle of the desert. Phil (Bradley Cooper), looking a little worse for wear, is on his cell phone with Doug's almost-wife, trying to explain that they won't make it back in time for the wedding because Doug is missing. Then we go back two days, to before they took off for Vegas. We see them get there, check into to Caesar's, and have a little pre-partying drink on the roof. Then Stu, Phil, and Alan wake up in their hotel room ($4200 villa) to find a baby and a tiger, but no Doug.

The rest of the movie consists mostly of them backtracking the night's adventures, trying to find out what the hell happened and where Doug could have possibly ended up. They may or may not deal with some personal issues and naked Asians along the way.

Ed Helms (Andy from The Office) and Zach Galifianakis (the guy with the beard) are in it, along with Heather Graham (as a stripper) and an ill-used Jeffrey Tambor (as Doug's father-in-law).


you may like The Hangover if you like...

• raunchy R-rated comedies. I'm not going to lie.
• legitimately funny movies (in my opinion, this would include Monty Python (anything), The Princess Bride, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Young Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, The Blues Brothers, This is Spinal Tap, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, How to Train Your Dragon, etc.)

you may not like The Hangover if you like...

• super-clean stuff. it's rated R for a reason, people. (it's not so terrible. really it's not.)
• heady dramatic stuff, or mushy chick-flicky stuff. This is for someone with more varied taste, probably.

Two caveats: If nudity offends you (which it kind of should), cover your eyes when they open the trunk, and for the credits. :)