Positives: The idea is an oldie but at the same time a goodie; 4 guys makes it to the Las Vegas Nevada in order to have a grand bachelor party but finish up managing to have a lot bigger night than anticipated, losing track over the whereabouts of the groom and slowly identifying how nasty a night they went through as they begin the quest for their groom friend with a big time hangover. One of the good ingredients to be having in a comedy as such is a good character interaction between the leads and in that respect “The Hangover” truly manages to deliver well. The roles of Stu, Phil, and Alan, are played by Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper the Zach Galifianakis, are the most implausible trio which you are likely encounter yet then their chemistry all together is pretty strong. Coupled with the script filled with intriguing one-liners and character infighting and you get to manage the feel of some very down to Earth and true comedy contrary to the highly artificial and as some say manufactured comedy which could have so easily derived of a film as such, specifically with the situations that these three characters face: beginning with trashing their Las Vegas villa in the posh Caesar’s Palace, then showing the courage in stealing the famous boxer Mike Tyson’s beloved pet tiger, to plainly pulling out own teeth, rapid weddings to a stripper, by mistake stealing 80000 dollars from the Chinese gangsters and cheating in the Vegas casino games by just counting the cards at a game of Black Jack. What converts this film right above the others in this genre is the fact that the lead characters have got a strong target to achieve; their most important groom is missing and provided their wild night experiences, he could just be anywhere and they are having less than just 2 days with a view to get him back in order to attend the wedding.

Negatives: The first 20 minutes of the film are devoid of almost anything that can prove it to be a comedy film. The female characters are given a very little chance to flourish.

The Bottom Line: In spite of a pretty slow beginning, “The Hangover” is amazingly funny, endowed with clever wit and a firm chemistry between the principal characters. Director Todd Phillips has been able to up raise to the very unexpected with an unbelievable ‘stupid kind of comedy’ story to something really hilariously trustworthy and at the same time quite down to earth i.e. nothing extravaganza.

Popularity: 15% [?]