July 20, 2009

The Hangover (2009)

4/5

The Hangover is a raunchy comedy full of great one-liners and hilarious situations. The plot follows three groomsmen waking up in the aftermath of a Vegas bachelor party with a killer hangover, a missing groom, and some mild retrograde amnesia. For the next 24 hours, they attempt to sober up, figure out what happened, and return with the groom in time for his wedding. It's a funny, vapid movie with lots of laughs and no message. But it's fun and entertaining, so go out and see it as soon as you can.

Technically, the movie is pretty impressive for a comedy. The framework of a mystery to progress the plot was new and inventive for the genre and kept things interesting. Seeing the smoking chair and clucking chicken lets the audience's mind run wild with possibilities that might even be funnier than the writers would have come up with. The fact that they're never explained, even at the film's end, opens up possibilities for some pretty awesome DVD extras if they choose to. The cinematography was usually pretty humdrum, but they were occasionally spiced up by truly awesome shots that made the movie stand out from the pack. The editing was accomplished, with relatively few unnecessary scenes and some magnificent surprise laughs. All in all, this is a fantastic comedy that attempts something new and succeeds. Reward them for their success--go see this movie.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1119646/