The Hangover

The Hangover (2009)

Runtime: I saw the unrated version that's 108 minutes long

Directed by: Todd Phillips

Starring: You should know all of them by now

From: Warner Bros.

About time I reviewed The Hangover for this site: 

NOTE: I saw the unrated version; I saw this theatrically back in the day and I rate both the same.

There is a wide variety of reasons why I haven't really cared to even see most modern comedies, meaning to me “those made in the 21st century.” Mainly it's my unique sense of humor but it's also how crassness and vulgarity seems to be overwhelming and has permeated the entire genre. That stuff can be funny (as it usually is here, for example) but when it goes wrong, it becomes dire for me and thoroughly unappealing. There is also what I heard described as “line-o-rama”, which is when the actors obviously improv and stretch out scenes and babble on incessantly in the hopes of saying one funny line; I've made sure to avoid such motion pictures as the descriptions of those scenes alone that I've heard from reliable sources... I would find those scenes agonizing. In the unrated cut I saw there appeared to only be a little of that so that was a relief.

Anyhow, if it wasn't for the good word I heard from several people I know, I may have never have seen this... I won't get into the “popular” comedies of the past 20 or so years I've never bothered with. While this is uneven and some moments are odd or just too cruel and mean-spirited, otherwise this did have enough laughs for me... even if I usually laughed at the buffoon lead characters and did not feel too bad as they were weirdos, repressed, homophobic, etc. I am personally surprised that Zach Galifianakis is someone who still appears in big releases today as his off-putting bizarre character portrayals (which I understand is also part of his act on stage as a comedian) is only sporadically funny at best to me. To be honest, the line where he implies that he is a child sexual predator... in 2018 no way would you have that in this film.

Despite all that and the valid criticism concerning how women are portrayed, there are enough laughs for me as some goofballs black out and they have an over the top adventure where they try to piece together what happened. A big asset is that the movie was well-cast; I am not surprised several people here had their star rise and still are doing well now... even Dr. Ken Jeong. I have no problem with him personally, although I think he's best in small doses and I understand both sequels did not agree with my opinion.

Even with my nitpicks I can give this a nice rating, as like I explained it gave me enough chuckles. The second film I only saw theatrically and at the time I was amused... now I might find it tired and hackneyed... I'll watch that eventually. The third one has such a toxic buzz I avoided it but I should find out for myself how they apparently screwed up so badly. While this sort of comedy is not my favorite or the kind of comedy I would want to watch often, I was glad this did not suffer too much in the ensuing 9 years since it was first released.