It’s been interesting on how much comedies have evolved within a 50-year span. I know for a fact that comedy is subjective, but these movies have proven to be gamechangers for all audiences and cinema in general. I think what makes it work is that it has to be timeless and deliver on all the jokes. So I’ll wrap it up with what I think of The Hangover.
1. Three Friends in Search of Their Friend
For a while, this was the highest grossing R-rated movie at the time. And I remember the impact this film had because everyone was talking about it. A true mark of success for a film is that it can be quotable in any situation. With that, we follow four friends take a trip to Las Vegas. They plan to celebrate their friend’s last day being single.
The following day, they piece together what happened. Hence the title of the movie. The biggest thing that is mostly overlooked in this film is that we never get to see what went down in Vegas. Mind you, we do see photos in the credits of just the utter debauchery the guys do. That isn’t the point, since we immediately cut to the hotel room just destroyed with a chicken roaming around. And that's not all, since everything they encounter is a tiger, Vegas metro police, and a stripper.
All the guys have different personalities that suit with how the situation changes. With Phil being the leader and just having that dude bro attitude. Stu being a bit nerdy and classy. Alan, well he’s Alan. We don’t really get to know Doug since he’s only in the movie for a few minutes. And I get that he doesn’t have much, but the payoff on where he is, is just classic.
The comedy is reminiscent of The Three Stooges. Now, for the young ones who don’t know who they are, Google it. Like the film I think is sort of like a throwback of the classic comedies. Right down to Alan not swearing as explicitly as his friends. I think that it works in this way, since the comedy is played almost like a detective story. With moments that seem outrageous until the next thing that throws the whole trio into a frenzy.
2. Las Vegas
This film probably added more to the whole mystique that is Sin City. Like the comedy is set up perfectly by keeping with one of the famous sayings about the city. It would be easy to just have the whole action take place in the town and not do anything that the city is known for. What the film does so well is that it utilizes the city in every situation.
Now of course it must use the casino as a crucial plot point. For instance, the guys must get a specific amount of money to the gangster Chow. Alan volunteers to gamble and get the money. It’s one of the best scenes since Alan gets vindicated from being an idiot to genius with beating the Casino house.
And of course, they have to bring up the gangsters tie with the city. I mean, you can’t make a movie that takes place in Vegas and not bring up any gangsters. Right down to the obvious reference of Martin Scorsese’s Casino with the sunglasses seeing the trail of dust from the car. Ken Jeong also steals the show when he talks. Obviously, it’s an exaggerated voice, but the stuff he says is downright hilarious.
3. The Sequels
It wasn’t a surprise that Warner Bros. immediately wanted a sequel to cash in on the first film’s success. And no surprise, it falls into the various traps of a sequel by doing it again. This time in Bangkok of all places, but it’s the same thing. Yeah, it was hilarious, but time has proven costly since it tries to be even raunchier than the first one.
I haven’t even seen the third one of the trilogy, and for good reason. There’s not even a hangover, but other stuff that has direct ties to the first movie. It was from there where I kind of questioned why exactly Todd Philips wanted to explore the films further. The first one works as just its own movie. Having the sequels be the same thing and completely divergent on the whole idea makes no sense to me.
But there are good things that came out of it. Zach Galfinakis immediately gained that status as being the new funny guy. I’ve seen him pop up in some hits like The Campaign and in the FX show Baskets. Ken Jeong was even involved with the NBC show Community that further made him into a household name.
4. Overall
The Hangover is the one of the best comedies to close out the 2000s. There isn’t anything that I could add than I wouldn’t want to go to Vegas with any of the characters.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.