The Hangover

I have been trying to analyze why The Hangover is such a uproariously funny movie – and I cant seem to be able to pinpoint any one single reason (or two or three or four for that matter). I mean the plot is not at all new - 4 guys have a wild bachelor party in Las Vegas two days before the marriage. The group itself is predictable – one hen pecked guy, one dashing ladies guy, one fat moron and one normal chap. Not a single big name star either – comic or otherwise.

Yet it is definitely the funniest movie of the year. Instead of any one reason or sequence, the entire movie just works !! From start to finish ! And the movie succeeds in being a laugh riot without the vulgarity that inevitably accompanies every guys-only movie. The humour comes in form of smart one-liners, bizarre incidents and some really random images with the end credits !!

The movie is basically about the groom’s three best friends Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) who wake up after a wild bachelor party in Vegas to face some really unexplainable things – and a missing groom ! And worst of all, they don’t remember a thing about the night !! As the poor guys struggle to reconstruct the previous night, the night starts to become more and more bizarre …

Interestingly, the movie hardly ever goes into a flashback mode, so we dont actually see what happens – its left for us to imagine & recreate from the conversations of the movie. Which probably adds to the enjoyment of the movie. The three guys themselves share a great chemistry – which makes you, the viewer, get interested in what actually happens to them. Or rather what happened to them the night before. Mike Tyson also makes a guest appearance in the movie … though that’s all I would say.

Alan is the most lovable of the guys – he carries off the weird-guy-act with such conviction that you would think he is like that in real life !! The others are equally good in their roles - Phil as the dashing alpha male who is always looking to take the lead, but turns out to be as clueless as everyone else and Stu as the hen-pecked and bullied boyfriend.

The ending of the movie is slightly sweet – it does seem a bit out of place, but then we are soon presented with the end credits and there are some real howlers there !!

But one thing the makers forgot to explain – what was the chicken doing there ???