DVD Review- The Hangover

The Hangover is another entry in the long list of "stupid comedies". When I use the term "stupid comedies" I am referring to those comedies that purposely don't deal with logic, realistic characters, realistic situations, or realistic choices. Being a stupid comedy doesn't mean it has to be a bad movie, I quite enjoy these kinds of comedies (Dumb and Dumber, Austin Powers, Waynes World, Anchorman, etc.). It all comes down to two things: did I laugh a lot, and did I have fun while watching it.

If you don't know what The Hangover is about let me give you a quick synopsis. Doug (Justin Bartha) is getting married and goes to Las Vegas for his bachelor party with his 2 friends Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and his new brother in law Alan (Zach Galifianakis). After taking a shot of alcohol we cut to a scene where Phil, Stu, and Alan wake up with a hangover. They can't remember what happened the night before, and they can't find Doug. So for the whole movie they are searching for Doug and are trying to figure out what crazy antics they got into the night before.

In one of the first scenes of the movie Zach Galifianakis is shown hugging Justin Bartha. When the camera pans back we see that Zach is naked from behind. At this point I knew exactly what kind of movie I was getting into. I knew when reviewing this movie I wasn't going to waste my time using terms like unrealistic and stupid, because that's what the movie wants to be. I knew I had to just not think too much about what's going on and just sit back, relax, and try to enjoy it.

This movie gave me some chuckles here and there but as a whole I didn't find it that funny. I thought the whole idea was kind of funny, and I was never bored, but it was ruined for me with all the foul and vulgar language, and male nudity. I'm not a fan of comedies filled with so many F-words (and there was quite a lot in this movie), and other vulgar language. If you're going have that then the movie has to be really, really funny for me to like it. If they made this movie PG-13 I probably would give it a positive review. The three leads did fine but none had a real breakout role. The best role went to Ken Jeong as Mr. Chow, a Korean mobster they find naked in the trunk of Doug's car. He stole every scene he was in.

So if you don't mind a movie with lots of swear words, drugs, vulgarity, and male nudity you might like this movie. The movie became the highest grossing comedy of all time, and won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy, so there is evidently a lot of people who find the movie very funny. I must admit I watched the movie alone which is probably not the best way to view it. If you do watch it I would advise you to watch it with a group of friends. For some reason watching a stupid comedy is much funnier when other people are laughing at it too. Then after the movie you can quote some of the funny lines and make the movie sound funnier than it actually was.

Grade: D

Rated R- Lots of foul language, drug use (mostly scenes of getting really drunk), male nudity (Zach Galifianakis from behind, and Ken Jeong full frontal), brief female nudity (Heather Graham is breast feeding a baby), and some scenes of violence (the three main characters get beat up multiple times resulting in bloody mouths and bruises).