The Hangover (Rhoades)

“The Hangover” Hangs Around for Tropic

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

What’s the worst night you ever had? Hard to beat the four guys who go to Las Vegas for a bachelor party in “The Hangover,” the everything-goes-wrong comedy that’s now playing at the Tropic Cinema.

Doug (Justin Bartha) is getting married, so his pals take him for a What-Happens-in-Vegas-Stays-in-Vegas night out. Phil (Bradley Cooper) is a Matthew McConaughey look-alike schoolteacher with a ho-hum marriage. Stu (Ed Helms) is a straight-laced doctor … uh, dentist … with a fiancé from Hell. And along comes bearded Alan (Zach Galifianakis), the bride’s not-too-bright brother.

This is a road trip movie, and yes I’ll admit one of the funniest ever.

The story begins in Memento style on the morning after, when Phil, Stu, and Alan awake with one helluva hangover. Seems someone slipped them roofies and they have no memory of the night before. And bridegroom-to-be Doug is missing.

So most of the 100 minutes is spent looking for Doug, which means figuring out what happened the night before.

As a starting point the guys woke up with a strange baby in their Caesars Palace suite, a tiger in the bathroom, Stu missing a tooth, and Phil wearing a wristband that indicates he’s been in the hospital. Oh my.

Enter Asian gangsters, Mike Tyson (playing himself), a pretty hooker (Heather Graham), a quickie wedding chapel, and a stolen police car. Other than that, things are fine.

Phil calls Doug’s bride-to-be to tell her about the wedding: “That’s not gonna happen,” he breaks the news.

But it does … and the movie details all the obstacles that must be overcome. Painfully funny.
Sure, “The Hangover” had a run at the Regal. But if you missed it, here’s your second chance for a belly laugh. And if you didn’t, you may want to see it again. I know I’m taking my friends.
Come to think of, rather than the worst night of their life, “The Hangover” turns out in many ways to have been the guys’ best night ever!

srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]