Of my current top 10, it's sadly come to my attention that I've only written full reviews for four of them. I myself feel this is a scar on my 2009 and I apologize for the shame it has caused that I may never live down. In an effort to right this grievous wrong, I'm going to write full reviews for at least my top 10 of 2009, as it stands right now. Hopefully once all of these are out of the way, and once the new year has made its presence known, I will have cleared my film review slate and will once again be able to keep up with everything. But we all know what happens to New Year's Resolutions.
Without further ado, let's get into The Hangover shall we? Let's all rewind about 6 months to June of 2009:
The Hangover is one of those movies that sneaks up on people; in some way, it feels like the weekend it depicts. There was a little anticipation, a little hesitation, tons of debauchery, more than anticipated actually, and upon leaving the theater you question yourself "did I really just see that?" I went in as an unsuspecting seat-filler, and by the end, there were only 2 things I hoped. The first being that I definitely wanted to see it again; the second being that I'm glad I'm a single girl because if I ever had to deal with the fallout of a bachelor party like that, I might be looking in to how much it would cost to delay the wedding.
The plot is deceptively simple: 4 guys go on a short road trip to Vegas, the ultimate bachelor party destination, for well, the ultimate bachelor party. Having never actually seen the entire film "Bachelor Party" (I know I'm shocked too!) I can't say for certain that this movie corners the market on bachelor party status, but I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that what follows is one of the Top 5 bachelor party movies of all time. Directed by Todd Phillips, the man behind "Old School" and "Road Trip" (I hope you're catching on to the male-bonding theme here), "The Hangover" may not necessarily go where no movie has gone before, but trust me, it goes there in a way that you've probably never seen before.
Most of the credit has to go to the fantastic chemistry of the cast. Phil, Stu, Alan and Doug(Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, and Justin Bartha respectively) are the 4 characters on whom the entire movie relies, well with the exception of fantastic cameos from Ken Jeong and Mike Tyson, and they more than deliver. To give away too much, would be to deprive the unsuspecting audience of a ride that's well worth taking. Suffice it to say there are babies and tigers and sofa pizza (oh my!), and oh so much more. It's hard to be critical of a movie where the writing is this good and fresh and funny and the performances are so spot on. The lines are quotable, and although there may be little in terms of the technicals to come away commenting about, you'd be hard pressed to find another comedy that makes you laugh and gasp at the same time the way this one does. Sure, it's not overly thoughtful, but it's raunch at its best, or at least the best to be seen in a while, and there's something about it that borders on sweet, when someone's not getting clawed in the shoulder.
And don't even get me started on Stu's song (hopefully a Best Original Song nominee **fingers crossed**)
Overall 5 out of 5 tasers
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