The Hangover

My air conditioning stopped working in my car, and since I don't have air conditioning in the small box some call an apartment, I figured I should at least have it in my car. I went into the car shop and explained my lack of cold air problem as well as the odd tinkering, clanking sound coming from the engine. As it turned out, I needed a new compressor that would cost around $800. This following 2 weeks before that when I'd had the entire exhaust system replaced for around $1000.

So while they fixed my car, I headed over to the cinema at the mall. Considering my mood, I figured I should keep things light with The Hangover.

The basic premise is well-known; four guys go to Vegas for a bachelor party. In the morning, they wake up with a tiger in the bathroom, a baby in the closet and no groom. The rest of the film involves them gathering the details of their night as they search for their friend, all in the hopes of someway, somehow making it back in time for the wedding.

A few days before, I watched the behind the scenes/comedy tour of Zach Galifianakis. I loved him in Out Cold, a ridiculously teenage snowboarding movie that I watched in the background as I worked on my dissertation. I have a fondness for the film that transcends its admittedly loose and ridiculous premise and levels of acting.

That being said, I knew that Galifianakis was capable of understated and wry hilarity. (That combined with the fact that he can deliver amazing jokes while playing brilliantly on the piano...stunning!) As Alan in The Hangover he delivers deadpan lines with perfect timing. I'm a bit disappointed to see that he'll also be in G-Force this summer, but I can understand the desire to move into film.

Ed Helms, who I know and love from The Office, does a beautiful job as the whipped boyfriend/dentist/neurotic who *spoiler alert!* pulls out his own tooth to prove that he can. Bradley Cooper is the cocky, self-assured leader who ended up in the hospital.

I love the moment where Helms sits down at the piano and begins to sing. (I wonder if Helms and Galifianakis ever played together.) When the men headed to Mike Tyson's house to return a tiger, things began to feel a bit forced or overplayed. As they meet an overly stylized and stereotyped Mr. Chow in the desert, I begin to squirm a bit in my seat, wondering how long it was until the end.

There are only two women in the film that are seen in any depth (and depth is being generous). Heather Graham, the woman that Ed Helm's character, Stu, marries in the middle of the night. She's a stripper with a baby and a heart of gold, who seems to truly believe that Stu will deliver her from her life. The second woman is Stu's girlfriend, Melissa, played by Rachel Harris. Melissa is an overbearing and controlling shrew of a woman. And there's not too much more presented.

Overall, The Hangover starts strong, gets a bit weak in the middle, but finishes solidly. It lives up to and exceeds exactly what it seems to be: a bro-style comedy, heavy on ridiculous circumstances and light on thinking. Enjoyable, laugh out loud funny at times, but not a film I would buy.