 Contrary to what the name suggests, The Hangover is a deeply intense movie about four men and their spiritual path to self-discovery. Touched by the teachings of the Dalai Lama, four friends leave their busy LA lives and head out to the icy peaks of the Himalayas (imagine Buddha Bar playing in the background) to discover the true meaning of life and the film unravels on the cliffs of the mighty mountains, which they then refer to in their autobiographies as 'the hangover'…
Hiccup! Sorry… stop… you have to be more than drunk to believe and Phillips was probably a tad bit tipsy when making it! If we didn't have censorship laws, I'd happily replace the 'ch' in chick flick with another letter of the alphabet because that is the kind of humour The Hangover thrives on. No complaints though.
Think of the perfect chick flick - something on the lines of Legally Blonde, Miss Congeniality or Confessions of a Shopaholic for instance - and then turn it inside out to suit a man's perspective. Which basically means stripping it of everything (strip being an operative word here) a 'lady' would appreciate and simply packing it with two hours of reckless action, senseless humour and debauchery. It would delight any middle age hen pecked couch potato who loves complaining about his wife during the first coffee break at work… or actually any man (except the types who speak with marbles in their mouth and wave their Oxford degrees in the face of any argument). In that respect The Hangover is most definitely every man's Enchanted, no offense to Amy Adams,
To be fair, The Hangover has an incredibly entertaining if not original storyline. Three friends Alan, Phil and Stu decide to throw their best friend Doug a bachelor party he can never forget. It turns out that it's actually one that none of them can seem to remember. Because when the four friends drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in Doug's father-in-law's Mercedes convertible (which will predictably get pulverized) and raise a toast to each other on the high roof-top of Caesar's Palace, the only thing they accomplish is the hang over of a lifetime. Alan (Zach Galifianakis), Doug's socially misfit brother-in-law, accidentally lines their drinks with roofies, resulting in memory loss. And they wake up next morning to the mess of a trashed suite, a missing tooth, a baby in the closet, a tiger in the tub, a mattress on a statue by the hotel pool and worst of all, a missing groom. They use all the evidence on hand to retrace their footsteps in search of Doug, hoping that they'll find him before the wedding, which is the next day. It's a race against time and they don't really appear to have the investigative skills to win it. In this chick flick for men, the men are dumber blonds than any woman can ever be though Heather Graham (as Jade the stripper who loses her baby to three drunk men) comes close to breaking all records.
Anyway, the film is meant to be one long roll of comic relief without ever making sense. It is lined with bathroom humour: it relives the classic clichés of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll in every possible way. From Alan peeing all over the bathroom floor upon eyeing the tiger in the corner to the anal check up administered on them by an extremely butch policewoman, this film is made for men and women who think like men. It's Vegas and there is of course, the essential visit to the strip club (followed by a wedding in a dubious chapel), suspense at the casino and more unexpectedly a naked Asian jumping out of the car trunk where he was being held hostage. That, one must admit, is one of the most original and side splitting, hilarious moments in the film.
Does all this chaos get repetitive? Of course it does and at times you feel like giving it a cue. But that said, it's largely a popcorn comedy that is perfect for one of those Saturday nights when you have no place to go. One piece of advice though: if you're a man really wanting to get your money's worth, then send the women at home out shopping before you decide to settle down to it!
– Aamna Haider Isani
*YUCK
**WHATEVER
***GOOD
****SUPER
*****AWESOME |
