The Hangover

A lucky groom, Doug (Bartha), is taken to Las Vegas by his friends for a bachelor party he won’t soon forget! Phil (Cooper), the confident leader, sensible Stu (Helms) and Doug’s future brother-in-law Alan (Galifianakis) are out to make Doug’s last night of freedom as wild as possible. The next morning, Phil, Stu and Alan wake up in a trashed hotel room with no memory of what happened the night before. Doug is nowhere to be found, so the three of them decide to retrace their steps and work out where they could have lost their friend. But first they must deal with the tiger that has ended up in their bathroom…

The Hangover is genuinely one of the funniest films to hit the big screen in a long time. The stag party premise may not seem like a fresh idea but this film manages to reinvent the concept brilliantly. The viewer is just as clueless as the groom’s friends, which adds to the laughs when they get a glimpse of another outrageous act they committed the night before. The sharp way in which these events are portrayed and how they slowly link together for the end result makes for one and a half hours of pure entertainment.

This is the film’s real success, and makes it an all-round crowd pleaser; not just full of cheap laughs. Cooper, Helms and Galifianakis play off each other to create a great mix of witty banter, hilarious one-liners and physical comedy. Cameos from other comedians also add to the humour and make this film go highly recommended to lovers of outrageous comedy.

Julia Huntenburg