A Bit Too Hungover

Well Jon the Bon wasn't in attendance so I don't think I can actually count this as a Quiet Pool summer movie, but if I were to compare The Hangover to summer comedies of the past, it would be last by a mile. The past five years I've seen Meet the Fockers, Wedding Crashers, You Me and Dupree, Chuck and Larry, and Step Brothers. Crashers, Dupree and Stepbrothers were instant classics, while Fockers and Chuck and Larry were just good. The Hangover was just not a funny movie.

As Seth Cohen claims in an episode of The OC, "big isn't funny." Like Summer's new boyfriend Danny, The Hangover was big, obvious, over the top and unclever. From watching the trailer and listening to the hype from the masses I knew this would be the case. I also knew that everyone would love it. And without a doubt everyone in the theatre was cracking up at some of the most unfunny gags I've seen in a while.

This is what is wrong with people. They find it funny when a guy gets hit in the head with a car door? There's a tiger in the hotel room, a lost baby, and a dude who loses a tooth and they go nuts. Does Hollywood not have to work for a laugh anymore?

Skip Bayless has been tweeting about all of his movie viewings recently and although I obviously agree with him about The Hangover not being good, I completely disagree with his analysis on why. The scenes from the trailer were not funny, just I had assumed. And there were a few, and I mean a few (two to three) times where I laughed out loud, which were not in the trailer.

All of them were from Zach Galifianakis's character, Beardy. When he wanted to be like Phil, Bradley Cooper's character, it was hillarious. The best part of the movie was at the wedding when Beardy had his hair slicked back and asked if his hair looked good. The Nard Dog said yeah, and Beardy asked if "it was good like Phil's." So good. Other than that there were a couple times when he laughed at the things that had happened that showed great comedic timing. A few other moments from Bradley as well as Matt Walsh as the doctor made me chuckle, but that was about it.

Bradley is fantastic, but he was basically the straight man in this three dude comedy group. He wasn't quite 'Sack master' enough to bring out comedy gold. Ed Helms proved once again JJ's theory that no one from the Office can branch out and do well out of Scranton.

I didn't know Galifianakis before this and I was impressed. He seems pretty funny, but he wasn't given enough funny material. He pulled a lot of things off well, as mentioned before, but was given too much unfunny and obvious material to make his character truly hilarious. Beardy got much better as the movie went on, but it seemed those in the theatre with laughing histerically at his early movie doings (this threw me through a loop).

I commend Todd Phillips for making a movie that a lot of people seem to like, and making a lot of money for himself on this one, but The Hangover is definitely not up to snuff.