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Mr. Beaks Happily Endures THE HANGOVER!
SPOILER ALERT !!
Todd Phillips's THE HANGOVER opens with its three principals - Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis - stranded in the desert, very much the worse for wear, admitting the unconscionable to their best friend's bride-to-be: after an epic evening of carousing in Las Vegas, they've lost the groom. Cooper, framed in a tight close-up, unshaven and sporting a busted lip, is the unlucky bastard tasked with making the call, and he seems to have drawn the assignment on account of his supreme lack of tact. "We fucked up," he confesses. On the other line is the bride, Tracy (Sasha Barrese), done up in her wedding dress back in Los Angeles, surrounded by her family, hours away from watching the happiest day of her life turn into an utter humiliation.
"What happened?" is the hook of Phillips's raucous, unrepentantly R-rated comedy, which finds the director back in the boys-behaving-monstrously business for the first time since his 2003 triumph, OLD SCHOOL. Back where he belongs. Whereas Judd Apatow specializes in sweet-natured films about the plight of emotionally awkward man-children, Phillips is at his best when raging against the responsibility of married life. In OLD SCHOOL, his characters coped by retreating to their frat-boy prime; in THE HANGOVER, they find solace in a twenty-four-hour Vegas romp on the eve of a wedding. But while the archetypes are familiar in Phillips's latest - there's the happily-married lout, Phil (Cooper), the responsible-but-joyless cuckold, Stu (Helms), and the decent regular guy, Doug (Justin Bartha) - he cleverly deviates from the formula by removing the audience surrogate in the first act and bringing to the fore a strange little creature for whom there is no frame of reference.
That would be Alan, the socially maladjusted brother of the bride played to the manic hilt by Galifianakis. Alan is first glimpsed in a family portrait, where his expectant, mouth-agape smile suggests more of the family dog than a thirtysomething-year-old son. From there, he's seen excoriating a tailor for touching his junk. Alan's off. Big time. And his inclusion in this bachelor odyssey is largely obligatory: a well-meaning gesture of brother-in-law camaraderie and a way to get Alan's crazy ass out of the house while the rest of the family prepares for the wedding.
Alan is immediately a disastrous mix with Phil, a morally bankrupt middle-school teacher who's funding his weekend in Vegas via oblivious donations from his students. Phil's that incorrigible best friend for whom one's constantly making apologies. He's the kind of guy who'll roll up to your house and bellow "Paging Dr. Faggot" for the entire neighborhood to hear rather than get out of the car and ring the doorbell. Phil is only socially presentable when his wife and kid are in tow; when let off the leash, he makes Vince Vaughn's Beanie look like Atticus Finch.
Phil's rough on all of the guys, but he actively antagonizes Stu, a successful dentist who's planning on proposing to his shrill, controlling girlfriend upon returning from Vegas. Stu's a good guy who's never lived a day for himself; he's easily bullied and tragically open to suggestion. And he's about to make the worst mistake of his life by presenting his live-in harpie - who thinks the boys are enjoying a civilized weekend in Napa Valley - with his grandmother's Holocaust ring. Actually, that'd be the second worst mistake of his life; the first would be bringing the priceless heirloom to Vegas. This is a spectacularly tasteless touch for which I salute Mr. Phillips and his writers (Jon Lucas and Scott Moore).
Once in Vegas - and after upgrading to a lavish suite at Caesar's Palace via Stu's credit card - the quartet congregate on the roof of the hotel to begin the evening's debauchery with shots. Cut to the following morning, and the suite is trashed. As the boys blearily rouse themselves to take stock of the damage, a number of alarming discoveries are made: there's a rooster roaming about, a tiger chained up in the bathroom, and a bawling infant stashed away in a closet. But what's there isn't nearly as distressing as what's missing; Stu, for example, is down a tooth and a Holocaust ring. And, of course, there's no Doug.
Unable to recall a single second of their evening following the rooftop shots, the boys must haphazardly backtrack by examining the contents of their pockets and whatever clues are strewn about the room. Unfortunately, more questions are raised. The baby, which Alan inexplicably dubs "Carlos", belongs to a stripper (Heather Graham). Fixable enough, right? Problem is, Stu married that stripper. And that's just the beginning of their fuck ups. Why was Phil briefly hospitalized? Where's the Rolls, and how did they come to valet a cop car? Why are they being chased down by trigger happy thugs? Perhaps that has something to do with the buck-naked Asian crimelord (a fearless Ken Jeong) they've stuffed in the trunk of the impounded Rolls.
And, most puzzlingly, why in the hell did they steal Mike Tyson's pet tiger?
The solving of the mystery is fun enough, but the biggest laughs in THE HANGOVER are character-based - and that's because the Cooper/Helms/Galifianakis team is every bit the equal of Wilson/Vaughn/Ferrell. Of the three stars, Cooper has probably been closest to a breakthrough, but he's never been this caddishly charismatic. With Bartha's everyman Doug out of the picture, Phil, despite his bacchanalian nature, becomes the sanest man in the film (Stu's too weak-willed, while Alan is simply certifiable). Cooper's got an Eric Stratton glow to him; yes, he's a weasel, but he's our weasel. And just as we cheer Stratton on as he romances the roommate of a recently expired college student, we root for Phil to swagger his way out of a debacle for which he is largely responsible. Cooper may be too naturally devious to ever work as a classic leading man, but he's got that same irrepressibility that made Chevy Chase a movie star for a time. The only difference is that Cooper's got better chops. He'd make a great Fletch.
Compared to his doormat of a character on THE OFFICE, Helms's Stu is a paragon of machismo: i.e. his fiance has only been unfaithful once, not incessantly (and in the same building). The novel twist with Stu is that he's already come out of his shell; he just has to remember why he snapped and became his own man. Helms delivers the subtlest performance in the film, and the most human.
It's a marked contrast to Galifianakis, who's beginning to look like the most insane, sui generis comedic talent since Jonathan Winters. Alan isn't the most touched character Galifianakis has played (that would be "Zach Galifianakis" in "Between Two Ferns"), but there's never a moment when the audience feels at ease with this mental defective. And yet he gets the film's hero scene when he insists on his Raymond Babbitt-esque blackjack skills.
Time will tell whether THE HANGOVER has the durability of OLD SCHOOL, but, all told, it feels like the more satisfying movie. If anything, it cements Phillips's reputation as an expert director of ensemble comedy. He makes order out of chaos better than nearly anyone out there. And he's the best apologist for guys behaving like guys we've got (without cheating - unless they're engaged to an awful human being). This is an undeniable return to form.
Faithfully submitted,
Mr. Beaks
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THE TYSON CAMEO HAS ME SOLD I'LL SEE THIS
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I've got the newest Judd Apatow script:
BALLS FUCK COCK PUSSY LITERATE BUT SWEARING PROFUSELY HA HA PENIS BEER PONG WOMEN ARE SLUTS TITS CUNT
PAUL RUDD CAMEO.
FIN. -
Been wondering about this one for awhile. Especially given that Galifianakis is one of those guys who has seemed like he's been waiting for a role to step up and make him the comic star he seems like he's been waiting to become. His standup has consistently killed me, but his roles have been so small until now, glad to hear this is the one that's likely going to push him through.
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Time for a return of actual funny movies.. Screw all the other crap. This post brought to you by HBO.
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First of all, seeing this one Thursday and really looking forward to it. It looks great and it sounds great and that was a good review, Beaks. That said, I really actively dislike Old School. I think it's the type of "classic" comedy that only frat douchebags can appreciate. It'd be a wonder if The Hangover was somehow less satisfying than Old School, since Old School is one of the least satisfying movies I've ever seen, with a third act that drops like one of those cinderblocks from earlier in the movie. And while Vince and Will were funny, the movie hinges on Luke Wilson and he's just not up to the task since it's not a Wes Anderson movie. I'm not trying to change the focus of the story, which is that The Hangover is worth getting excited about, I'm just saying, since I haven't said it in some time, that despite some great Master of Puppets usage, Old School is one of the most overrated movies of the past decade. Wedding Crashers was better.
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For posting first, second and third? Thought so.
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HAR HAR I'M DUMBTARTDED HAR HAR
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looking forward to this, lol at dumbtarded
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...Dude, Where's my Car?! Except the car is the groom. Could be funny though.
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I almost pissed myself when Tyson knocked that dude out.
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And Zack Galifinakis is going to blow the fuck up-- picture Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill-- now picture if they had an older brother and that brother was actually funny.
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you're absolutely right on. Winters never ventured to far away from his actual persona, just upping or lowering the ante a little bit. but since his "actual" persona was so weird and inherently hilarious, it always worked. Galifianakis is the same way. I've always thought of him actually as sort of a bastard child of Bob Newhart and Jonathan Winters. he's got that same sort of calm, weird presence that Newhart has, but then he sometimes just busts out with the zaniness of Winters.also, you had me at Ken Jeong...his skewering of every different asian culture in the Kims of Comedy is fucking GOLD...he's always good.
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I will check this one out.
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Ummmmm Beaks? Old School is a funny frat style comedy with Will Farrell's breakthrough role (look at his film career before and after Old School, but you make it sound like a timeless classic, like Animal House. It's not. This too, sounds like a funny take on the Vegas bachelor party from hell Very Bad Things, crossed with Dude Where's My Car. Dude, where's the groom. Funny, but not anything that'll be remembered 6 months from now, except on DVD.
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At the first screening and I have to backup Beaks. It's just funny, no heavy handed character moments that feel forced. I was rolling the whole time. Cast has great chemistry.
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Oh, that wacky bad boy Mike Tyson! Convicted rapist and ear-eater! Isa there date rape in this too? Oh, those bad boys!
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I was fucking laughing at the review. Plus Cooper and Zach are the man's! I've always liked Cooper since Wedding Crashers, and his stint as an audience member in The Actors Studio.
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You beat me to it. Durabillity of Old School? I may be wrong here...and let me know...but my guess is you're in your 30's and Beaks is somewhere in his 20's....at least mentally. It's a generational thing.
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Yeah it was funny when I walked into the theater knowing nothing about it just that my friend said it was funny and it was funny. Every time after that it wasn't as funny and it was boring. Shit Very Bad Things is funnier and holds up better. So I better see this in theaters right away, then again I am out of college so I won't have to hear all the jokes 200 times a day.
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That's exactly what I was thinking while reading this, the plot doesn't sound very original.
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The opening credits up until the wedding reception are funnier than alot of movies in the last few years. Thats just me though.
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I'm actually 51...a senior citizen around here.
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I got the same 'Dude, Where's My Car?' vibe too when reading the synopsis. Doesn't mean the movie can't be good/funny, but, yeah, it does sound pretty unoriginal. I'm sure there will be people that scream about how this film is nothing like DWMC... but they have to stop posting on the IMDB boards about how different The Mentalist is from Psych first.
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Todd Phillips is an ego maniacal prick. Starsky and Hutch sucked the hardest balls on the planet and Old School was seriously ho-hum. Don't even get me started on School for Scoundrels, so many ADR'ed "fucks" in the unrated version. At least he didn't pussy out PG-13 with this one.
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I also picked up on the Dude, Where's My Car plot vibe. Difference is, this actually seems funny compared to that other execrable piece of Kuchter.
Great review Beaks, as always.
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Do you all injest copious amounts of glue? What is a good comedy in the past 15 years if that isn't? Please don't say Dumb and Dumber which is horrendously overrated. Animal House, Caddy Shack, Revenge Of The Nerds. Old School I would argue deserves a mention aqainst these beacons of the comedy genre. They are all immature, coming of age comedies so tell me that only Old School is infantile. Wake the hell up and go streaking through the quad.
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Anchorman.
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Mr. Bad Wonka, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that, but it is quite humorous. I just watched the 2nd trailer for this movie. I know trailers can be misleading, but it was hilarious.
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Its a Mercedes not a Rolls.
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