The Hangover Movie Review

The “Hangover” (June, 2009) by director Todd Philips

Having a bachelor party in Las Vegas seems like every man’s wild dream! Of course, men aren’t the only ones who go to Vegas for a crazy night. Women do the same and behave as recklessly as men do, if not, more. Since the typical “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” kind of situations have become cliché, the “spontaneous naughtiness,” in a sense, is exactly the opposite.

“Hangover”, however, is completely aware of this stereotype, which is one of the reasons why it is different from other “Vegas movies.” In the movie Doug (Justin Bartha) and his friends, Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) go to Las Vegas to celebrate Doug’s bachelor party.

He and his friends are not the typical “partiers” or “swingers” one would expect to see; in fact, all but one of them are the opposite of daring and adventurous. Phil, the brave one of the bunch, is a junior high teacher who is devoted to his family; Stu, the “play it safe” guy, is a dentist with a girlfriend (Rachel Harris) who treats him like a slave; and Alan, the stoner, is a chubby, hairy man who would probably search for Santa’s house in the North Pole if someone told him it were real.

The four of them plan to get wasted and imitate the type of activities they saw other people do on TV. However, when Phil, Stu and Alan wake up the next day, they realize that Doug had gone missing, and they have no memory of it because they were intoxicated. A series of events that happened the previous night had gone wrong, and it all started when Alan put ecstasy in his friends’ drinks. Throughout the rest of the movie, they try to trace their steps back to find Doug.

Each of the main characters in the movie changed his view and attitude toward the end of the movie. Stu, especially, who always followed whatever his girlfriend said, changed to a spontaneous “do whatever I want” man. He finally felt liberated and happy with his life, which I think is one of the most important moments in the movie.

Though “Hangover” may not exactly be the kind of movie you would want to see with your parents, it is worthwhile to watch, especially if you liked movies like “Juno” or “Pineapple Express.” Be prepared, however, for intervals of bursting laughter, because “Hangover” surely offers that in many ways.

Although the contrast between the characters of this group of friends makes the movie fun and interesting, sometimes Todd Philips, the director, went a little over the top. The downfall of this movie is that so much focus was spent on the characters‘ personalities, you could sometimes almost predict what each of them would do or say.

Other than that, I think the movie is lots of fun and should definitely be in everyone’s list of movies to watch.