Once in a very long while, some unheralded little movie comes along out of the blue and hits like a comet. The Hangover, an incredibly funny new comedy starring people you’ve just about heard of, is that little movie. Indeed, test audiences have been so blown away that the studio has already commissioned a sequel.
Good call.
On paper, there’s nothing here that screams Hottest Summer Movie Ticket quite like the finished product does. The plot – stag party get blind drunk in Vegas then wake up without the groom or any recollection of where he might be – was last dusted off for Dude, Where’s My Car? The jokes – Uh oh! Somebody got married last night! Or Uh oh! Somebody just upset Mike Tyson (playing himself) – are not particularly novel.
But the cast, including That Guy From National Treasure and That Guy From Nip/Tuck, have far better acting chops than their resumes might suggest. Zach Galifianakis’ spaced-out loser and Ken Jeong’s lunatic gangster are highlights, but throughout, nobody misses a beat.
This is straightforward rollicking comedy done to perfection. For all the locker-room japes, The Hangover, unlike certain Apatow products, never loses sight of its own idiocy. We don’t just laugh with these guys, we laugh at them, near them, beside them and occasionally, right through the nose.