The Hangover - I guess I did do that

We’ve all woken up one morning and couldn’t quite remember what we did the last night. Some of us have even found ourselves in a strange and unfamiliar place when this happened. Usually you have a friend or an acquaintance that can give you a play by play of what you did and how messed up you were, but what happens when you friends are just as clueless as you? Oh, and that weird location, it’s Vegas.

The Hangover takes that scenario to the extreme, and when you think they can’t go any further, they do. Four friends take a road trip to Vegas for a bachelor party and pledge to have the time of there lives over Jager shots. The next morning three of them wake up together in their hotel suite amidst the remnants of what looked to be one hell of a party that includes a live chicken and a tiger in the bathroom. Once they get some of their wits about them the realize their friend, the groom to be is missing and they set out to find him by trying to piece together whatever they did the night before from the clues they have around them and what people they’ve ran into tell them. This includes a trip to the hospital, a wedding chapel, a call girl’s apartment, the desert, and of course a police station.

The humor in this movie is that of extremes. For example when the group finds their missing car and hears someone beating on the trunk from the inside they find not their friend but a naked Asian man who jumps out and attacks them with a crow bar. It’s fun to watch what will happen next and try to piece together what exactly did happen to them, and a feeling of genuine concern for the whereabouts of their friend does come across rather well. At no point in the movie does anything feel forced, appear out of place, or to be just there for a cheap gag. Every action advances the story and there is humor in it that serves the story. You’ll have quite a bit of fun with this movie, and stay for the pictures during the credit sequence. They’re well worth it.

Grade B+
Meta Grade 88