The Hangover

The Hangover is absolutely, without a doubt, the very best mainstream comedy to hit screens since The 40 Year Old Virgin. Remember that one? The film that did massive business before launching two previously minor stars - Steve Carell and Seth Rogen in that case - into the top tier of the big screen comedy world?

The story is simple. Doug (Justin Bartha) is getting married and best friends Phil (Cooper) and Stu (Helms), along with soon to be brother-in-law Alan (Galifianakis) are taking him to Las Vegas for one final blow out of a bachelor party. Phil is the cynical married man, the would-be playboy pushing against his safe life as a school teacher. Stu is the hen-pecked dentist, always playing it safe and considering proposing to his overbearing girlfriend. For Alan, borderline mental health and developmental disorders abound -- he's an odd man in an odd body latching on to the rest as rare potential friends.
The plans? Huge! The night? Huge-er! So huge, in fact, that Phil, Stu and Alan wake up the next morning, their hotel suite trashed beyond words, a tiger in the bathroom, a baby in the cupboard and Doug vanished without a trace. Vanished, kind of like the trio's memory. And so the race is on, the race for Phil, Stu and Alan to reconstruct their night and find Doug before his bride-to-be walks down the aisle and realizes her groom isn't waiting at the other end.
Incredibly well written and shot by the same man who was behind the camera for indie hits The Chumscrubber and Garden State, The Hangover is just a surprisingly well put together film, one that would probably draw awards attention for its writing and technical merits if not for the fact that it was a comedy. And that's strangely appropriate. Because as much as this is a gross out comedy - and any film that includes a man being tasered in the testicles certainly qualifies for that tag - it is also a film about real people in a real (albeit bizarre) world trying to make at least a little bit of sense out of adulthood.