Una notte da leoni

Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) wake up in Las Vegas hotel room with no memory of what happened the night before during their bachelor party. The problem is they lost the bachelor Doug (Justin Bartha).

There's a tiger, a bunch of pictures, and a baby. All that is fun flashing lights, but it's the chemistry of the three that makes this movie. Zach Galifianakis' breakout performance is hilarious. But it means nothing if Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms wasn't there. Bradley is a great leading man, and Ed is able to balance out Zach.

Director Todd Phillips really had the group humming. He has built up a nice resume of funny comedies. Also Ken Jeong literally jumps out onto the world.

Most great comedies are based on fundamental truths -- we find a deal of humour in the illumination of our own human tragedy. Office Space is funny, for example, because we've all worked that type of job, put up with that type of boss, and suffered that type of monotonous everyday boredom.

Todd Phillips' new movie, The Hangover, is as aptly titled as anything else released this year: it's about a Vegas bachelor party gone horribly awry, in which the groom inexplicably disappears, no one can remember a damned thing, and Mike Tyson wants his tiger back.

Yes, we've all had those nights, though perhaps not to such extremes (that's where the exaggeration of comedy serves us). The Hangover is funny because it takes this cultural ritual -- an American tradition; something almost all of us can relate to -- and finds genuine humour in the pain of its aftermath.

I concede that bachelor party movies are not in short supply; the genre (if it is, indeed, a genre) should have probably both begun and ended with the Tom Hanks flick almost three decades ago. But The Hangover wisely studies the day after rather than the day itself; this is funnier because the plot works backwards, without tacky flashbacks, and much of the evening in question is left to our imagination.

While it would be misleading to claim this is a brilliant film (in either regard – as comedy or character study), it's an assured picture that finds its footing immediately and achieves a surprising level of sustenance throughout its running time. And frankly, let's be honest, this is a breath of fresh air: it's one of the best R-rated comedies of the decade, and certainly the most uproarious since Superbad was released two years ago. Most R-rated comedies produced today are defiant; the R-rating has become a hindrance to film studios' sensibilities – everything is PG-13, saving the shameless Unrated schpeel for the DVD cut. The occasional theatrically-released R-rated comedy, as such, is infrequently modest; the ads stress the rating to remind us what we've been missing. For every legitimate offer, such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, we're treated to movies like College that attempt to lure us into theaters based on the promise of raunchy decadence. The problem is that it's all so coldly calculated; these films are not funny because a majority of the time they are simply lazy and dishonest.

The simplest reason for The Hangover's success in being genuinely funny is the fact that it achieves a rare balance of character and vulgarity. We laugh at the characters' misfortunes because we like them, we empathize with them, and they are distinctly actualized. Are they stereotypical? To a certain degree, sure: we have the repressed pussy-whipped guy who obeys his girlfriend's every command (Ed Helms); the weird John Belushi-esquire figure who speaks in non sequiturs and naïve absurdities (Zach Galifianakis); and the womanizer whose confidence renders him automatic leader of the group (Bradley Cooper). It's a testament to the strengths of these actors that they make their characters endearing and believable, even in the face of total lunacy.

Helms has been an underrated highlight of the American Office for the past several years, never quite earning the praise he deserves. His character on the show is played with pitch-perfect perversity: he's not overtly creepy (like the program's other weirdo, Creed), but rather subtly unnerving. Helms invests a great deal of nuance into what is ostensibly a throwaway, supporting goofball; this movie, if nothing else, will justly reveal his talents.

Cooper uses his looks to his advantage: it's funny to watch handsome people exploit their securities. Cooper essentially turns your typical Leading Man figure into a bumbling idiot, self-absorbed and clueless. It's effective, he's got great chemistry with the other guys, and it's fun to watch such an immoral and ruthless character take center stage in a mainstream comedy.

Galifianakis, a cult comedian who I've admired for years, has been struggling quite a while. Not many people other than myself and Sean Penn saw his 2001 comedy Out Cold, probably because it wasn't all that great; but he was easily the most amusing aspect of the picture. He once described himself as being gifted by the opposite of the Midas touch, with more than a few canceled TV shows to his credit (including Comedy Central's unheralded Dog Bites Man), but it seems his persistence has finally paid off: he has discovered, at last, a movie of strong enough quality to reflect his talents. Galifianakis has a fair share of the film's funniest dialogue; as far as fat funny guys go, many of them (such as Chris Farley) made the ill-fated mistake of playing dumb in a sharp fashion: hurtful quips and silly one-liners, all self-aware. Galifianakis plays his character straight and the laughs are subsequently heartier; when he embraces his brother-in-law while nude, the act seems innocently awkward rather than deliberately awkward, and that's what makes it so funny. He's described in The Hangover, by another character, as a child with a beard. Imagine how funny it is when he names a Caucasian baby Carlos, without any shred of condescension or knowing humour.

The Hangover is surely destined to become the sleeper comedy hit of 2009, and, more likely, a cult flick in the years to come. It's more deserving of such acknowledgment than many recent successes, and while we may live in an era saturated with unnecessary sequels, I actually left The Hangover hoping to see these guys again. And that's a rare feeling these days.

If there's a film that will be sold on word of mouth alone this summer, it's The Hangover. With a funny but unspectacular trailer, a plot (guys go to Vegas for bachelor party and crazy things happens) that seems overly familiar, and stars who are relative unknowns there's nothing to suggest anything hugely promising. But those who have seen it can surely testify that it's a 24-carat piece of comedy gold, for once you can believe the marketing moguls...we have been graced by the sleeper comedy hit of the summer. On closer inspection it shouldn't actually have been that surprising, Todd Phillips occupies the director's chair and his previous output includes such hits as Road Trip, Old School and Starsky and Hutch. 'The Hangover' though easily surpasses those by merit of providing regular and consistent laughs amidst backdrop of a frenetic and unrelenting morning after.

The problems most comedies face are that they have to put all their best laughs in the trailer, so by the time the film comes around the funniest parts lose their impact and the rest of the film is disappointing in comparison. This is a problem The Hangover sidesteps masterfully. Yes we know they wake up with no memory of what went before; there's a baby, a tiger, a chicken, a missing tooth, someone's married a hooker and (in an unsurprisingly bizarre cameo) Mike Tyson turns up...but these moments, albeit hilarious, aren't what make the film tick. The heart of the film is in the chemistry between the three leads; Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) are likable and identifiable enough for an audience to go along with events that could quite easily in another context seem ridiculous. Alan in particular is a character that could really grind your gears if he turned up in certain films, as part of the affable trio however he grows on you immensely.

This success may partly be credited to casting unfamiliar faces but the actors themselves deserve huge credit. Cooper may already be slightly familiar to some and is undoubtedly a star in the making (having been cast this week as Faceman in the new A Team flick), Helms is best known for his stint in the US version of the office, Galifianakis though has come completely out of the blue and it wouldn't be at all a surprise to see him follow a career path similar to Seth Rogen's post Knocked Up. The missing groom Doug (Justin Bartha) also deserves an honourable mention for slotting effortlessly into the group when around, it's a shame the plot requires him to go missing for the most part. There's also perfectly pitched cameos for Heather Graham, Jeffrey Tambor, Ken Jeong and best of all Rachael Harris who is magnificently vile as the hapless Stu's wife.

Phillips has no qualms puts his characters through the wringer, there's one shocking revelation after another as the people, animals and events they encountered the night before come back to bite them on the ass during the search for Doug. As the audience know as little as the characters do the reactions ring true, they suspend disbelief as colossally silly events are only matched in magnitude by the sound of laughs in the theatre. The Hangover never quite lets up - the laughs even continue way into the credits - so it should come as no surprise that a sequel is already being planned. Having come up with something so fresh here the producers will have to be careful not to suffer from a hangover themselves the second time around.

Verdict: Brilliant chemistry and a few plot tweaks make The Hangover better than you could possibly be expecting going in. It's funny from start to finish and is guaranteed to have you leaving the cinema with a smile on your face.

I can not remind myself that I've laughed this much for a long time. Everything from start to finish offers a wonderful blend of humor, so I think everyone will find something they like in this movie. It's hard not to find a favorite character because all the characters have so many things to offer.

After seeing this movie for the third time, I think it has exactly the same charm as the first time. I will probably look at it many more times in the future and that says a lot about the movie. I recommend it to anyone who has not seen it and if it's been a long time since you saw it, watch it again! It's worth it.

Sometimes the title of a film can sell itself, or at the very least pique a viewer's interest. Director Todd Phillip's new comedy The Hangover does this and more by introducing an infinitely relatable premise and infusing it with a clever story to keeps the gimmick supported for the duration. While providing the requisite raunch, stupidity and laughs, The Hangover is bolstered more by its puzzle piece narrative then by straight up humour. The mark of a good comedy is one that can keep your interest in between the laughs; be it by human drama, character development or in this case, a meandering riddle.

What do we really know about a hangover? We know we have one, and we know we drank too much. Often everything before, after and in-between can be a blur at best, and for three friends, Phil, Stu and Alan they certainly got the worst. Travelling to Las Vegas for a night of sin, gin and wins to celebrate their friend Doug's (Justin Bartha) bachelor party they awaken the next morning to find their hotel room a tad dishevelled, a tiger in their bathroom, their memories wiped clean and their groom to be MIA. Playing the three worried bros respectively are Bradley Cooper as the bored-with-his-life school teacher, Ed Helms as the neurotic dentist and Zach Galifanakis as the awkward weirdo and soon to be brother in law of Doug. So unfolds the mystery; trying to find their missing friend before the wedding by piecing together the clues of their epic night out.

For me the standout of the group was certainly Ed Helms. He plays the role straight, he is likable and he is funny. His characters arc is the most complete and entertaining and he certainly grounds his wilder counterparts nicely. The other players are certainly funny, yet the characters of Phil and Alan are not fully likable. Cooper's Phil is a bit of a prick and Alan is flat out creepy. That aside the actors put forward such commendable efforts all is soon forgotten and the quick pace and continual humour keeps things fast, fun and frantic.

As promised by the trailers, we get a cameo from the Mike Tyson who is funnier for being himself then for his actual performance, darting in an out with a great supporting performance is heather Graham as an escort and Mike Epps makes good use of his time as quote 'Black Doug'. More hilarious yet is a closing cover for rapper 50 Cents' Candy Shop which is as inspired as it is hilarious. The Hangover is certainly one of those comedies that is re-watchable, and likely to improve with repeat viewings. However it is probably a good thing actual hangovers are not this much fun; I'd rather die of laughter then alcohol poisoning.

Read all my reviews at simonsaysmovies.blogspot.com