This weekend found me catching yet another in our continuing series of “Judd Apatow-like” movies. The most current installment is The Hangover. The movie stars Bradley Cooper (the jerk fiancé in Wedding Crashers), Ed Helms (of The Daily Show and The Office fame) and Zach Galifianakis (er, okay, I don’t know Zach).
The Hangover is male humor at its most basic and effective level. It’s essentially the story of four guys who head off to Vegas for a bachelor party and wake up so hung over from the evening’s events that they have no idea what went down or where the groom-to-be has disappeared to. What takes place is a series of hilarious journeys of understanding as each oddity is unfolded for us. If Memento were a comedy this would be it.
There is one exception to the explanations that I’d love to hear input on from anyone that catches this. Our first sign that something has gone ….. awry is a shot from the hotel room as one of the men is waking and in the background is a live chicken roaming about the room. We never find out how the chicken got there or why. Seemingly every other bizarre circumstance is explained.
This is not a movie for everyone. Much of the plot is just entirely unbelievable. I don’t care. It was still hilarious. The movie also does a great job of leading you down the path of expecting one outcome only to find something even funnier than what you had in mind. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out another twist pops out to keep you laughing.
The movie does slow down about three-quarters of the way home but then picks up again for the ending. It’s a must-see if you like this kind of humor.
