The Hangover (2009)

The buzz on The Hangover said it was stupefyingly hilarious -- and I suspect it is for the 12- to 24-year-old male whose dream job would be to star on Jackass or Punk'd. However, mature adults of either gender (but esp. estrogen-Americans) will likely find it a hit-and-miss -- stupefyingly dumb or just thuddingly not funny for the most part, with the occasional zinger of a line or a scene. To be fair, the ensemble cast shows a reasonably good chemistry that supports the story convincingly from start to finish; it's just such an outlandish story -- over-the-top with some gross-out humor, but lacking the comic genius of There's Something About Mary, Sideways, The Whole Nine Yards, or other movies. Our story begins as Doug (Bradley Cooper) assembles his groomsmen and prepares for a tasteful, expensive wedding paid for by the bride's father (Jeffrey Tambor), who entrusts his son-in-law-to-be with the keys to his beloved ragtop convertible so the foursome can celebrate their bachelor party in "Napa Valley." Their actual plan, though, is to hightail it to Vegas and par-tay like wild men one last time. Zach Galfaniakis plays the bride's tubby schlub of a brother, who has a range of mental and emotional deficiencies; another groomsman is an irreverent high school teacher and semireluctant family man; and Ed Helms plays a pussywhipped dentist who plans to propose to his abusive shrew after the wedding. They set themselves up in a $4800-a-night suite and ... the next thing they know, it's the morning after, the place is a shambles, they remember nothing about what happened, Doug is missing, Ed is missing a tooth (and wearing a wedding ring), there's a chicken in the room, a baby in the closet, and a tiger in the bathroom! How do the three groomsmen backtrack their party-down timeline and locate Doug in time to get to the wedding -- and most importantly, keep everything that happened (once they find out) their not-so-little secret? The detective game is wild and crazy and involves men with baseball bats and guns, women on stripper poles, a lot of swearing, and too much Heather Graham (a little goes a long way, usually taking the movie south with no return). If you find humor in nut shots with Tasers (delivered by schoolchildren while egged on by police officers), this is your kind of movie. The characters are not that sympathetic so when they get smacked, it's hard to care (or laugh) -- but I liked Ed and Zach best and suspect you will too. 3.5 stars. (6-14-2010, posted 1-14-2017)