Hang out with the boys -- The Hangover
FUN FARE: The Hangover.
The Hangover
Genre: Comedy
Director: Todd Philips
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham
Storyline: Dude, Where’s My Car. And best friend? Bottomline: The funniest film this year.
Drunken revelry, Freudian irreverence, celebration of bachelorhood and the dream wish list — everything a guy ever wanted to do but never got a chance to. ‘The Hangover’ is as perfect as it gets as far as Boys Night Out entertainment goes.
Though the film seems to derive its inanely bizarre plot from the whacko ‘Dude, Where’s My Car,’ this is quite grounded in reality… at least reality that can be aspired for.
You can steal Mike Tyson’s tiger, trash a five-star hotel, make a killing at the casinos, marry a stripper or jack a police car… it’s not still as unrealistically fantasy-like as ‘Dude, Where’s My Car,’ where hot babe aliens are willing to give you pleasure if you can hand them the “continuum transfunctioner.” ‘The Hangover’ goes deeper into the male psyche. The tapes of what they do when they are wasted can be sent to their shrinks who can spend hours psycho-analysing and deconstructing fears, insecurities, dreams and aspirations of the Average Joe. Or, Dick.
The beauty of ‘The Hangover’ is that director Todd Philips decides to pretend that all of that is incidental.
Running riot
The focus of this film is on three drunk guys trying to piece together all that they did during a night they cannot remember and hence, the screenplay, too, has the licence to run riot between the blanks. We never get to see what they did, only the aftermath and a few fragments (now, stay till the very end if you want every thread tied up).
The actors are a prize catch and you can’t wait for the boys to return. (Yes, they will return for a sequel next year!) Ed Helms (Andy from ‘The Office’), finally you get a role you can sink your teeth into! Bradley Cooper, welcome to the Men’s club — here, you get to atone for your sins during the time you spent doing silly chick flicks (he was last seen grabbing Scarlett Johansson in ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’). Zach Galifianakis — you are a Dude, man. Pour me a drink, will you. And, Heather Graham, this film’s just one of those reasons the boys will always love you and cherish you for — the other two films being ‘Austin Powers’ and ‘Bowfinger.’ Keep doing that thing you do. And, the rest of you boys reading this, what the heck are you waiting for? Go hang with them now.
SUDHISH KAMATH
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