The Hangover (Unrated Two-Disc Special Edition)

DVD Reviews | Dec 18th, 2009

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham, Jeffrey Tambor, Ken Jeong, Sasha Barrese
Written By: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Directed By: Todd Phillips
Studio: Warner Bros
Buy On Amazon.com

The “comedy of the year” is out on DVD and Blu-Ray! Only thing, I totally disagree with that statement. I don’t think The Hangover was the comedy of the year, everyone else seems to think so but I disagree. The Hangover has its moments, but in the end, this movie is very overrated and over-hyped.

The Hangover is about 4 buddies going to Vegas to help celebrate their friend’s wedding, which takes place the next day. You got the groom, Doug (Justin Bartha), who’s about to marry Tracy (Sasha Barrese). Along for the ride for their bachelor party trip is Doug’s soon to be weirdo Brother-in-Law Alan (Zach Galifianakis), his tight ass, wimp-whipped dentist friend Stu (Ed Helms). Then there’s Phil (Bradley Cooper), a school teacher who’s married with a son; which by the way, doesn’t even seem like he’s married with a kid. They could have made him the pretty boy bachelor and I wouldn’t have known the difference. Tracy’s Father (Jeffrey Tambor) lends Doug his prized vintage Mercedes to drive to Vegas. The guys arrive to Caesars Palace and prepare for the wild night ahead of them. They wake up the next morning with a really bad hangover and have no idea what happened to them. Stu’s missing a tooth, the hotel suite is a wreck, there’s a Tiger in the bathroom and Alan has no pants on. Also, Doug is missing. They don’t know what happened to him so they begin to retrace their steps on what happened. They only have a limited time to uncover what happened to them, and find Doug so he can get married that day.

The premise of the Hangover had potential, and I certainly went into the movie with an open mind. My original experience with the Hangover was a bit jaded, considering I saw the movie with a bunch of giggling buffoon high-schoolers who laughed at EVERY thing any one said. I mean everything! But even besides that, I just felt the Hangover was extremely overrated and not that funny. I love raunchy, crude humor; I just like all types of comedies. I liked Todd Philips previous movies like Road Trip and Old School. But I think a lot of people must have had their memories erased to think this comedy is original and the best of the year. I could think of a few movies that The Hangover “borrowed” from like Very Bad Things, Dude Where’s My Car, What Happens in Vegas, the TV series Las Vegas, even episodes of the The Simpsons and Friends! Just having the movie in Vegas makes this story very cliché. You gotta have someone stand up in the car and scream “VEGAS!” You need to have someone say “what happens in Vegas…” which is a line that makes me roll my eyes now. I could go on and on with the rip offs. I was really surprised to see all the critics in favor of this.

Even after watching it a second time, I just didn’t laugh that much. There’s a few laugh out loud moments, but the rest of the time I’m just shrugging my shoulders and saying to myself “eh, that’s amusing.” The story felt like some college students wrote it for a class. This is how I picture a conversation went between 2 of the writers: “Dude, let’s write a Vegas movie where they lose the groom and have to find him. And then one guy gets married to a stripper, they steal a cop car; they take roofies, and get mixed up with an Asian naked mobster, and then have to win a bunch of money at the casinos. Oh oh, and Mike Tyson will randomly show up too! Hilarious dude! *high five*”

The acting wasn’t that great either. Bradley Cooper seemed like he was just reading the lines, and had no emotion to his character. Ed Helms is heading into “plays the same character” territory. And finally, let’s talk about Zach Galifianakis. I don’t think he was funny before this movie, in this movie, and I still don’t think he’s funny. His comedy is stupid and I don’t get it. People actually like this guy? Everyone loved him in the movie but I don’t think I laughed once at anything he said. Wow, a baby masturbating, how hilarious. That’s the best you can come up with?

The unrated version of the movie has 8 extra minutes in the movie. Honestly, I couldn’t tell the difference. There’s more of Jeffrey Tambor in the beginning of the movie. After that, I don’t remember any of the scenes. The gag reel was amusing; you get to see a more extended clip of The Dan Band performing “Fame,” there’s some featurettes on Ken Jeong’s improv. There’s also a dumb map of Vegas and where things happen. You click on the spot and either a note or video plays. I hated that feature because you couldn’t watch all them straight through. So you had to move the arrow over to each spot to see if there was a video or not. It was dumb. Which pretty much sums up this overrated, over-hyped and cliché comedy. I’ve seen funnier things on the show Las Vegas than this movie. Best thing about this movie was seeing Heather Graham’s tit. I’m in the minority here but I think once people see the movie again they will realize the Hangover isn’t that funny. Or maybe not, who knows.

Features:
– Hilarious Gag Reel
– The Dan Band Performs Fame
– Ken Jeong’s Non-stop Hilarious Improv
– And Other Hilarious Extras!

Video:
Widescreen 2.40:1 Color (Anamorphic)

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 [CC]
SPANISH: Dolby Digital 5.1
FRENCH: Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles:
English

Bottom Line: The overrated comedy of the year!
Running Time: 108 mins
Rating: NR
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating:

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