In Theaters: June 5, 2009

Reviews of The Hangover and Away We Go

The Hangover
Directed by Todd Phillips
Starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis
**

Hey, remember the episode of The Simpsons where Homer and Ned Flanders went to Vegas, got wasted on booze and woke up married to two floozies?  Well, screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore definitely do because they’ve written a longer big-screen version of that half-hour episode and called it The Hangover.  Following the outlandish exploits of a trio of friends the morning after the wildest and craziest bachelor party in the history of wild and crazy bachelor parties, the Todd Phillips-directed film is positioning itself to be 2009’s version Wedding Crashers or Knocked Up—a riotous R-rated summer comedy that audiences go back to see again and again.

Thanks to its omnipresent ad campaign (seriously, I think I’ve seen Hangover banner ads plastered on every single bus stop and movie-related website on the Internet) box-office success seems all but assured.  In terms of quality though, Vince and Owen and Judd and Seth have nothing to worry about.  For all its zany situations (The guys finds a tiger in the bathroom!  The guys get tasered by the cops!) and stunt cameos (Mike Tyson!) The Hangover isn’t really all that funny.  Where Wedding Crashers and Knocked Up were filled with gut-busting scenes that people spilled out of theater laughing about, it’s hard to think of any truly memorable moments from this creatively challenged outing.  Instead, much like an actual hangover, The Hangover lingers for a little while and then vanishes from your mind completely.

Since comedy is arguably the most subjective film genre there is, I should disclose that I haven’t found Phillips’ past efforts to be all that funny either.  His first feature Road Trip is a bland American Pie knock-off, Starsky & Hutch is only bearable thanks to the potent chemistry of its stars Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller and I didn’t bother seeing the dire-looking School for Scoundrels.  And while 2003’s Old School is beloved by many, I’ve always considered it to be incredibly overrated, offering one genuinely inspired comic performance (Will Ferrell) amidst lots of generic frat boy humor.

My general problem with Phillips as a director is that he surrounds himself with talented actors and then saddles them with uninspired material.  The Hangover has a number of opportunities to blossom into a genuinely witty and daring comedy, but keeps making safe, obvious choices at every turn.  Take the casting of scene-stealer Ken Jeong (Knocked Up, Role Models) as the leader of an Asian crime ring.  A smarter movie would have allowed Jeong to play against type; unfortunately this one falls back on broad caricature, requiring the actor to repeatedly mispronounce “Engrish” words and jump around buck naked for no discernible reason.

There’s also the issue of the film’s questionable treatment of its few female characters, a recurring problem in Phillips’ work.  In the world of The Hangover, women are either doormats who willingly tolerate the guys’ bad behavior or raging bitches who deserve public humiliated for daring to call them on their B.S.  The former type is represented by Heather Graham’s Jade—a stripper with a heart of gold, a fantastic rack and no backbone—while the latter is typified by Rachel Harris’s Melissa, a nasty piece of work the guys take great pleasure in vilifying.  Say what you will about Judd Apatow’s own issues with women; at least his movies don’t require the female characters to just be big-boobed Madonnas or shrewish whores.

The Hangover’s one saving grace is its cast, who work overtime to wring laughs from the wafer thin screenplay.  Cult comic Zach Galifianakis has deservedly won lots of buzz for his spacey turn as a bearded man-child; in fact, the studio has already announced that he’ll be getting his own sequel.  His co-stars Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper are eminantly watchable as well.  But it says something about the movie that its most inspired sequence turns out to be the end credits, which reveal the group’s bachelor party hijinks in (very) explicit detail.  Too bad the rest of The Hangover only provides a mild buzz.

Verdict: Skip It

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Also in Theaters:

Away We Go
Directed by Sam Mendes
Starring John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph
***1/2
As an unmarried pair of soon-to-be parents touring the country in search of a new place to call home, John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are the glue that holds Sam Mendes’ sweetly comic road movie together.  Their moving, funny and emotionally honest performances help distract from the uneven supporting cast, some of whom go so far over the top, it’s painful to watch (we’re looking right at you Allison Janey). Already big names in television, Away We Go confirms that Krasinski and Rudolph have the movie star goods.

Verdict: See It