The Hangover
November 1, 2009 by admin
Filed under Hangover Books & Movies
- HANGOVER, THE (DVD MOVIE)
If you like your humor broadside up, hold the subtlety, you’ll want to nurse this Hangover with your best buds. The ensemble cast meshes perfectly–it’s like a super-R-rated episode of Friends: silly, slapstick, and completely in the viewer’s face. When four pals go to Vegas to celebrate the imminent nuptials of one of them, they partake in a rooftop toast to “a night we’ll never forget.” But they’re in for a big surprise: their celebration drinks were laced with date-rape d… More >>
There appears to be a growing tendency in Hollywood to make more and more retarded and tasteless “comedies”, but what worries me the most is that there is a market for them. Even the most retarded and pointless flicks sell enough tickets to bring profit.
“Hangover” reminded me somewhat of a 10 years old episode of The Simpsons’ (10th season) – “Viva Ned Flanders” – in which Homer and Ned go to Las Vegas, get drunk and marry cocktail waitresses: Amber and Ginger while intoxicated. Homer’s and Ned’s moment of weakness in Sin City would follow to haunt them later at home in Springfield.
There is such a HUGE contrast in the level of humor, cleverness and all-around sophistication between these two. Since it’s obvious that not everybody has talent for comedy, perhaps not everybody and his brother should be doing it.
C’mon people! There hasn’t been anything humorous for over a year, since “Meet the Spartans”.
____________ Oct. 13, 2009
I attempted to edit my review and it was moderated by someone at Amazon. I also posted a comment which was removed. I shall complain about it. Perhaps someone needs to look for another job.
Rating: 1 / 5
I kind of knew ahead of time this wasn’t going to be a good movie, but there I was, stuck in the theater watching this awful movie….
It’s about four guys who go out on the usual last chance batchelor’s party in Las Vegas and manage to accidentally date-rape drug themselves into total stupor. The groom-to-be disappears. The rest of the movie is spent following the remaining three guys around Vegas while they try to figure out what happened. Lots of slapstick comedy, lots of F*bombs, lots of guys mooning each other, one [...] shot of a stripper (Heather Graham)getting set to breast feed the baby that’s in the movie poster, and then some final still photos at the end of one of the guys getting [...] from a really ugly woman.
And oh, this isn’t a Three Men and a Baby tale – the baby was only a very temporary prop for a couple of slapstick gags and that one gratuitous breastfeeding scene. Then it mercifully disappeared from the story.
Hardly a family-friendly movie, needless to say.
What dreck. What an utter waste of 100 minutes of life. If there are chick flicks, this must be a “stupid guy flick”.
Addendum: So many nice, thoughtful people have left such deep and thoughtful comments on my review of this rather trivial movie that I thought I should clarify a couple of earlier points I made.
First of all, about that “hardly family friendly” comment. The promotional photo/poster and the movie trailers did strongly imply a “Three Men and a Baby” sort of family-oriented, if R-rated, comedy movie (definitely some false advertising there). So it was a bit of a shock to see that photo at the end of the movie of the ugly woman fellating Zach Galifianakis. I was sitting next to my two teenagers at the time and they were shocked. I have no qualms about letting my kids watch R-rated movies, and have for many years. In the past, depictions of [...] automatically got a film a minimum of an NC-17 rating. I do not take my kids to NC-17 rated films, or to [...] flicks. How this movie escaped an NC-17 rating is a question for the MPAA. Nobody ever watches NC-17 rated movies anymore (too much free porn kicking around I guess), and so obviously the producers of this movie must have greased somebody’s palms to escape this rating.
Second, I wasn’t sure when I first wrote this review that there was such a thing as a “stupid guy flick”. I kind of threw that term out there as a test. So thanks everybody for leaving all of your comments! You passed this test with flying colors! Now I know for sure there is such a thing as a “stupid guy flick”!
Rating: 1 / 5
I love humor, it’s one of my favorite film genres. And I like all kinds of outrageous comedy ranging fromBorat – Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan to There’s Something More About Mary to Spike Lee’s She Hate Me. I laughed so hard during these films I thought I would fall out of my seat! This proves I’m certainly not a prude or squeamish!
But The Hangover is such a bad film I barely chuckled or even smiled! Anyone who has ever experienced – or dealt with people who have been physically and/or sexually abused will probably feel a bit disturbed by seeing simulated sexual abuse, and calling it funny! I have to admit, I finally walked out of the theater because beside being depraved in a bad way the film was also desperately boring! I could care less about any of the main characters! And the humor was so unimaginative and forced!
The film’s trailers fooled me into thinking The Hangover would be worth checking out. It’s not the first time a trailer was much better than the film, nor will it be the last.Unfortunately, I wasted $10.00 during a recession. The next time I see something as bad as The Hangover, I intend to get a refund!
For those who think child abuse is not funny see: Licensing Parents: Can We Prevent Child Abuse And Neglect? and Raising Safe Kids in an Unsafe World: 30 Simple Ways to Prevent Your Child from Being Lost, Abducted, or Abused
Rating: 1 / 5
“The Hangover” represents a sea of abysmal in an already belabored movie world, and for a variety of reasons. The audience I witnessed this with were rolling in the aisles, perceiving perhaps tons more than I possibly did – but the stark reality is that this is a motion picture that intends to shock and awe with its’ series of gratuitous inappropriate gags, and for a large part these gags just do not work.
The seemingly hilarious script seems contrived and ineffective, and the performances are decidedly one-note. That said, “The Hangover” represents a new low for cinema in general, only because the five star reviews from critics for this particular motion picture, are both unwarranted and misguided. Lead actor Bradley Cooper and Heather Graham have some of the most ludicrous situations to work with, but there isn’t really any ‘acting’ going on, so to speak.
Any scenes that involve humor directed upon and toward infants (in this case of a sexually suggestive nature) and seem to glorify and patronize infant violence is absolutely intolerable. Even with the ethical elements removed, these scenes weren’t even that funny. Zach Galifianakis, who did exceptional work on `Tru Calling’ is reduced to a slab of ridiculousness, and the celebrity guest roles do nothing for the enterprise.
This was more like a collection of vignettes than an actual feature film. As both a commercial and critical venture, this is very far removed from what a comedy ought to be, and this is disappointing. Perhaps this says a lot about the state of our current audiences.
Two Stars.
Rating: 2 / 5
I was looking forward to seeing this one because it had the dude from the Office in it that has his moments. However, it sucked and it sucked badly. It felt incomplete, contrived and hollow. No great lines, no clever plot, no moments of comedy where you feel like you want to see it again because the first time through it was pure torture. What do you expect from a movie with unfunny men on film? Buy this movie if you’re stupid or for your kids if they’re stupid. You’ll laugh your asses off, but at what I will never know. Dim bulbs seem to love this one…
Rating: 1 / 5