By now many folks have seen the popular movie The Hangover. If you haven’t seen it, it lives up to its hype. This is a rowdy, crass, hilarious comedy about Phil, Stu and Alan, three groomsmen who take their friend, the soon to be married Doug, on a bachelor party trip to Las Vegas right before the wedding. The friends arrive in Las Vegas and start partying hard, only to find themselves in their suite the next morning with the groom missing and unable to remember what happened the night before.

Phil (Brad Cooper) is the ladies man and resident troublemaker of the group. Alan (Zach Galifianakis) is the groom’s odd soon-to-be brother-in-law. Stu (Ed Helms) is the nice guy next-door type with a girlfriend who treats him like crap. Complicating matters is that Phil and Stu do not know Alan, who appears stranger and stranger to them as the party goes on.

For a buddy film the screenplay is excellent, using a clever plot device of the audience learning what happens at the same time the characters learn what happened. There are plenty of twists and no obvious ploys here, refreshing to see and funny too. Helms, Galifianakis and Cooper are well-cast here, with standout performances by the very talented Ed Helms and the always funny Zach Galifianakis. Catch Helms musical number part-way through the movie, it is one of the highlights of the film. Mike Tyson plays himself as part of the story with some good lines and bits and is surprisingly funny.

The Hangover is one of the few comedy movies that have great comic actors cast, is original and makes you laugh. If you haven’t seen The Hangover, treat yourself and rent it, you’ll be glad you did.

2009. Directed by Todd Phillips. Starring Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha and Heather Graham.

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