Bad Hangover

Why do some people smoke unfiltered cigarettes or drink high-proof alcohol? Is there an explanation why Harley Davidson is so popular as a brand identity? There seems to be something appealing about the dark rebellious side of life. Maybe it’s the affiliation with danger. Whatever it is, it sells. People (especially men) seem to be attracted to the seedy underbelly of things.

    The movie The Hangover embraces this notion with both arms and does it without a single apology. At first glance, the movie’s premise is fairly formulaic – Four guys go to Vegas for a bachelor party and wake up the morning after with the groom missing. If you think about it, it sounds like a pitch for a 1980’s John Hughes movie starring Matthew Broderick or Andrew McCarthy. It would be described as a movie delightfully ironic and flippant in tone. Instead, The Hangover goes tonally to the dark side, but does it with great humor. In fact, the dark reality of the movie is what people love about it. Every laugh is followed by a gasp, and that’s intended. Todd Phillips, the director of The Hangover, has a knack for creating male characters that are comfortable with their bad behavior. He also directed the beer bong mastery of Will Ferrell’s Frank-the-Tank character in Old School. Like many of his movies, Phillips' The Hangover is really about men reconciling their bad decisions, and what better location to explore this subversive nature than Las Vegas? When the men in the movie arrive in the city at night, it appears to be so glamorous, but the next morning it's a different city. They soon discover that during the daytime Vegas is like waking up to a stripper without her makeup. It’s not pretty!

     Of course, men behaving badly on screen is nothing new, but The Hangover men are truly believable in their bad behavior. That’s the difference. Their behavior comes out of character and is played truthfully. The characters of Phil, Stu and Alan interact with each other honestly, as real men do, and in an admittedly obscene way. And isn’t that refreshing? Haven't we seen enough of those modern male-centric comedies with their plethora of overly-sentimental, politically-correct male characters? Guys don't act that way. It’s a Three Men A Baby pukefest of unrecognizable men!

     The Hangover is at least reality based, and I say that the dark side may be the best side when it comes to laughs. What we have in The Hangover are deeply flawed men who make really bad decisions. That’s my kind of movie because really…when you think about it, who wants to see a comedy about righteous men who always make really good decisions? There's no fun in that.