The Hangover… Ugh. But It Was Worth It.

By Ned Hepburn on June 9th, 2009

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The Hangover is blessed and cursed with being the beginning of the summer movie that every guy at every party or every bar is going to quote forever more. Now – most movies would kill to be something like this. In fact, they try damn hard to be that movie. They stay up at night and dream about being ‘Old School’, or ‘Animal House’, or ‘Porkies’. The Hangover – in all truth – does not quite live up to those lofty marks of Bro humor. What it does do, however, is something entirely different.

Basically a ‘Dude Wheres My Car’ for adults, The Hangover sets out to do exactly what it says on the box: make guys laugh about being guys. And that is where it succeeds. It’s shot remarkably well with a definite knack for the visual aspect of it but one can only wonder what the movie would be like without a major movie studio pushing tons of money behind it. Trade in the Lil Jon for some Ry Cooder and you’ve got a pretty serious tale about blacking out and coming to.

Bradley Cooper is being touted as the star but I didn’t care much for his character. While Ed Helms and Zack Galifinakis play twee and insane respectively and brilliantly, Bradley – in juxtaposition to those two – comes off as somewhat of a smarmy dickhead. Don’t get me wrong. It works in the film, and Bradley does a great job, but his character lacked the likability of Ed and Zack. Ed Helms (whose work on The Daily Show rivals that of Stephen Colbert) turns his part into one of the main storylines, while Zack out-Will-Ferrell’s Will Ferrell. It’s quite a sight to watch. He verges into John Belushi territory and you spend half the time laughing not AT him but WITH him while simultaneously being some-what scared of the guy; his beard and aviators – for some I’d imagine – will become quite the Halloween costume this year.

What it does is it takes the Bro-sphere and turns it almost entirely on its head. It’s not “bro” humor in the same way Will Ferrell has been coasting on for a couple years now. It’s “bro” humor of a different breed, a sort of post modern Wedding Crashers sort of vibe, as the women in this movie – when the story is supposed to revolve around their reactions – barely factor in to the major equation at all. Which is sort of sad; Heather Graham I felt was underused as were most of the female characters in this film. One can’t help there’s an entirely different but longer movie out there somewhere on the cutting room floor. Something a bit more out there and weird, appealing to a smaller audience, sure – but maybe that’s for the better. As it stands, it may not work for all but it’s a great early summer movie that I think anyone who has ever partied too hard will appreciate.