The Hangover (Movie Review)

Each summer, a comedy or two come along hoping to carve for themselves a place among the upper echelon of modern comedies, the ones that last, that get quoted, that become a part of popular culture. Anchorman, Zoolander, Napoleon Dynamite, Superbad -- these films forcefully grabbed us by the arm, stick a needle in, and injected themselves into our bloodstream. The Hangover has been hyped up as a film ready to join these ranks. While the film succeeds in being funny, it possesses a lot of potential hindered by a lack of focus from its director, leading to indistinct characters and a drifting comedic vision for the movie.

Three groomsmen, one groom, and an insane night in Las Vegas; three hungover groomsmen, no groom, and the painful morning after. The Hangover plays like a less preposterous version of Dude, Where’s My Car? as the groomsmen desperately search for their missing best friend. It would help if they had any memory of the wild bachelor party the night before.

The characters of The Hangover are amusing, though too underdeveloped or generic to be memorable. I’ve been watching a lot of The Office lately, consequently seeing plenty of Ed Helms. As a fan, the thought of him playing new, diverse roles appeals to me, so I was a bit disappointed to see him play a very similar character here to the one in the NBC comedy, just not as distinct. Bradley Cooper’s been proving his comedic chops since the beginning of the decade (particularly great in the underrated Kitchen Confidential), and while he brings his patented charm to The Hangover, his character is little more than “the cool guy” -- smooth, cocky, and moderately against marriage.

In a summer comedy, I realize there will be broad characterizations, but the best films manage to avoid this. It was frustrating to see an actress I enjoy, Rachael Harris, reduced to the one-note role of Helms’s overbearing witch of a girlfriend. It’s the lazy thing to do in order to get the audience to hate her and feel for the protagonist. A filmmaker like Judd Apatow proves that this strategy isn’t the only one, and sets his films apart by giving even the bossy spouse a few more dimensions (Leslie Mann’s character in Knocked Up being the prime example).

Among other things, vision separates the modern comedy classics from The Hangover. Each of those successful movies knew what kind of film it wanted to be, and it became it. Zoolander was an over-the-top spoof not concerned with the quirky, instead jumping straight into the absurd. Superbad wanted to be more familiar, and more real in its raunchy brand of humor and in the relationships it cultivated in its characters. Napoleon Dynamite just aimed for the odd and never strayed from that offbeat vision. The Hangover, however, wanders a bit too much into the different realms of comedy without committing to any single one.

Though its premise is on the crazy side, The Hangover still presents itself as a sensible, relatively realistic comedy film, like some of director Todd Phillips’s other efforts, Road Trip and Old School (neither of which would be described as “absurd”). So when The Hangover begins with a title sequence in the style of classic westerns, it feels less like a Blazing Saddles-style spoof and more like an early sign that Phillips knows movies and isn’t afraid to show it. It sends a good message, and as it’s not too over the top, it’s more cool than silly. Signals like these show up throughout the film, the best being the Mike Tyson cameo in the hotel (any movie that references Boogie Nights gets bonus points in my book). However, the director’s overall vision for The Hangover just wasn’t focused enough to give the film a consistent feel for its entire running time.

Several purposefully cheesy montages make their way into the film, playing off of old cliches like the awestruck Vegas first-timers or the nostalgic, emotional, reflective musical interlude; isolated, these sequences are funny, but they feel out of place with the rest of the film’s landscape. A particular scene in a casino begins well enough with a bit of a silly homage to Rain Man, but it quickly goes full-blown spoof as Zach Galifianakis’s character begins counting cards with complex equations popping up visually all around him in the vein of A Beautiful Mind. In another film, this sequence could have been right at home, but The Hangover had long established a specific feel, and this scene couldn’t be more out of synch with it. Todd Phillips needed to keep a steady hand over every section of this film to unify its visual and comedic experience or he needed to unleash it into absurdity; switching back and forth makes him look sloppy.

There’s just not enough strength in the director’s vision for The Hangover or in the writing of its characters to elevate it beyond anything more than an enjoyable, disposable film. Don’t misunderstood me: this is a good comedy. But the great ones linger. Months from now, I’ll remember enjoying this film more than I’ll remember the film itself.