After a brief surge in the ’70s (with films like Animal House, The Longest Yard and Slap Shot), the Guy Movie took a hit in the ’80s, as the Teen Movie and the Chick Flick vied for bucks at the theater. The past few years have seen a strong return of the Guy Movie, with Old School, Wedding Crashers and every single Judd Apatow film catering to the facial-hair-and-testicles set.
The Hangover — the new and very funny comedy by Old
School director Todd Phillips — takes the kitchen-sink
approach to the Guy Movie. Everything you could possibly want in a Guy
Movie is here: strippers, hookers, quickie marriages, guns, drugs,
booze, used condoms, naked Chinese men, fast cars, puke, public
urination — even a Mike Tyson cameo!
A pre-titles sequence sets the scene: Four men are stranded in the
desert, beaten, bruised and bloodied. One of them calls a bride-to-be
on his cell, informing her that her wedding — just hours away
— isn’t going to happen. The groom is “lost.”
Flashback two days earlier, when four men — groom Doug
(National Treasure‘s Justin Bartha), his best friend Stu
(The Office’s Ed Helms), buddy Phil (Bradley Cooper, who
played Rachel McAdams’ dick boyfriend in Wedding Crashers) and
the bride’s loser brother Alan (standup comedian Zach Galifianakis in a
breakout performance) — are prepping for Doug’s bachelor party in
Las Vegas.
They borrow Alan’s dad’s prized vintage Mercedes and some cash from
teacher Phil’s student-field-trip fund, and hit the road. They check
into a $4,200-a-night suite, go to the roof for a celebratory drink and
… wake up the next morning, not remembering a thing. Including how a
tiger got in their bathroom, why they now have a baby and where they
left Doug.
They spend the rest of the movie piecing together their forgotten
night. Slowly, they uncover clues that lead them on one Vegas adventure
after another, part of it in a stolen police car.
The Hangover pretty much raises the bar on the Guy Movie.
Unlike Wedding Crashers, Knocked Up, et al., women don’t figure
much into the mix here; they’re either girlfriends, wives,
fiancées or strippers. The guys constantly take swipes at each
other — dentist Stu’s friends call him “Dr. Faggot” — and
act the way they think guys should act, which only leads them deeper
into trouble. It’s one of the funniest movies of the past couple of
years, with enough testosterone to power Caesars Palace. And be sure to
stick around for the end credits, which include hilarious photos of the
guys’ lost night. It somehow turns out to be just as wild as the one we
saw onscreen.
This article appears in Jun 3-9, 2009.