The Hangover

I can only rate 90 minutes of 100 minutes of this little nugget of fun thanks to some poor planning by a hooch named Terry. But for 90 minutes, wow. I need to see the other 10 minutes because I feel like my life may be made a little more funnier if I do. Judd Apatow and his little pose better look out, cause there is a new crew in town, and they have bastard babies, ruffalin pills and bearded men that will light you up.
From the get go this film is packed with funny, in fact I don't know if this film has a line in it that isn't qouteable, seriously. Director Todd Philips takes a very cliche premise and moves it to such zany extents that he is able to make the old "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" credo and bump it up to "what happens in Vegas is fudging awesome, like Jesus is awesome awesome, YEAH!" The plot revolves around 4 guys going to the sinnest of cities to get weird for their friends bachelor party, upon blacking out they must find where their friend, the groom has gone missing, and make it back in time for the wedding.
The film has so many plot twists and turns that your in the same boat that these guys are the entire time. I normally like to think I can see through to the end of a movie within the first 10 minutes, but no, not the Hangover, I really didn't know where Dougy was. Philips keeps all of these players in check throughout the movie and does not let one out play the other, they are all one big ball of hilarity.
If you have a bladder condition wear a diaper, cause the acting will make you want to relieve yourself right there on those oh so absorbent theater seats, goo. Justin Bartha (Doug) has the smallest of roles but his time on the screen is great, I for one am very happy to see him be making this instead of National Treasure 4: the Search for Curly's Gold in Abraham Lincolns Porn Drawer. Bradley Cooper (Phil) does a great job at playing the underlying ringleader of the crew and keeps it fresh with a serious yet "holy-shit we did that?" kind of attitude. I feel like if this film did happen, this guy would have to actually exist in real life. I am a huge fan of the Office and was worried when I saw Ed Helms (Stu) following in Rainn Wilson's footsteps to turd-city of acting roles (except 5 minutes of JUNO, that was off the chain). Helm's has so much to deal with in the film that he easily could try to express too many emotions and lose his central character role as the guy who plays it safe, but he doesn't, he sticks to his character like Harry does to the Hendersons, and the guy is funny.
Zach Galifianakis needs his own space in this. First because you probably never remember the guy from any other movie/TV show since he is always overshadowed and given crap roles. Secondly because he is a bona-fide funny dude. He plays such an interesting character in this film and does it so well, that to even look away from the screen for a second to sneeze is a big mistake. He plays such a solid role in this film that it would be just another typical zany Vegas experience without this guy...and by this guy, I mean this GUY.
As for the gangle of people that support this mischieve bunch of rascals, Mike Eps was able to make it out of Compton for the other 6 days of the week and was able to give a hilarious performance as Black Doug. Ken Jeong as Mr. Chow gives yet a more over the top delivery, this guy is coming up so look out, I am excited to see him as a main role here in the next several films. Mike Tyson gives a knock out performance as himself, yeah pun intended. Actually I take that back, I just said it for the pun but whatever, he was good enough for the role.
The cinematography was pretty typical Vegas-esque stuff, delivered by Lawrence Sher. I mean the thing is, if you have seen most Vegas movies, you have seen mostly everything shot from every angle there is out there, so it can be hard to top it, but he does a solid job as DP to stay on the same level as his predecessors.
The soundtrack for this film was pretty much the perfect homemade mix tape of Vegas music for our ages (that is people who listen to pop music of today). All the right songs were jammed together and everything went together like a good P.B & J sandwich. Literally if you were going to Vegas this is probably the same exact soundtrack you would listen too, at least that is if your not Danny Ocean, he would probably be more into this.
So yes goes see this movie in the theaters. The ability to be able to quote it with you friends at the bar alone makes it awesome. Not many comedies are worth watching in the theaters these days, but this one definitely is. But make sure you don't make your plans with any hoochs and definitely go for the medium soda, not the collosa-gulp, cause getting up to take bathroom breaks would be a shame.


Banana-meter: 9.0/10 Bananas

Observe and Report

No slushy, $1 Tickets, post-wide release films, pre-stadium style seating: Cinema 6. Yes for all of you young guns of the Centre County who remember this being the "nice" theater in town, I tell you I just revisited that magical place where I saw cineMAGIC such as Titanic, Independence Day, and Pearl Harbor (Titanic part Deux sans Boat). As with my previous post, nothing of interest has been in the theater and since I missed this little Rogen vehicle several weeks ago I was looking forward to catching it. So I know this is not a brand spanking, still covered in membrane release and crying release, but if you see it in the theater it's still a release to me heres what I have to observe and report on Observe and Report.
First off, not what I expected at all. Not that I necessarily disliked it, but just wasn't what I had planned on seeing. I guess I went in looking for more of a Seth Rogen from Pineapple Express meets and clone babies of Seth Rogen in Super Bad. Saddly this is not the character that turns out. Instead there is some strange depression and the character actually plays out extremely odd and not funny. As for his co-stars, Ray Liotta really doesn't bring anything at all to the table, not funny or mean, just reading lines to me. It was exciting to see Anna Faris in a role outside of Scary Movie, then I realized although the movie wasn't in that realm, her acting still was. As for his fellow security guards, Michael Pena, Yuen Brothers and Jesse Plemons, all deliver a good show and really helped to keep me distracted from the creepiness of Rogen's character as Ronny. Aziz Ansari is really coming up in the world and could be the new big thing in character funny in Hollywood, he is the token Indian guy now, and he is nailing it. For the best performance though, I have to hand it to Collette Wolfe as Nell, I actually felt for her character and she made me want to jump on screen and punch Ronny for not seeing her signals, which means she had my attention throughout the film.
As for this strange creepiness, I don't know if maybe he wasn't casted correctly, just didn't bring it to the table, or if Jody Hill just lost it as a director. I will say in Hill's offense that some of the shots were great and the montages in the beginning were solid. Not to mention the ending of the film wrapped up well, and I especially liked the use of the slow motion in the end that really helped to close out the film. Although Rogen did not show his best skills in this film for the most part, I will say in the last 10 minutes of the film, he may have his best screen time yet, a new character emerges and it really is believable and new for even Rogen.
Nothing too crazy in the special FX or Cinematography department, all pretty simple stuff I thought that Tim Orr as DP kept the camera and crew on an even keel. As for the soundtrack though, I thought it was excellent for the film. All of the songs seemed to fit great and helped to add that extra element to each scene, so hats off to Joseph Stephens for a solid OST.
All in all I am glad I only paid a buck to watch this film, I mean it was cheaper than renting it, and Cinema 6 isn't that bad when it's not packed with teeny boppers and families with crying kids. As for the film, I think besides Rogen's off-the-mark acting it also comes down to the idea of a director/writer being able to "kill their babies." This concept of cutting certain things seemed to leave Hill when it hit the cutting rooms, and hopefully Jody learned that sometimes you have to pull the trigger and get rid of some things maybe just "you" find funny. So if I was you, watch this movie on cable when it comes out, but don't go out of your way for it.
Banan-a-meter: 4.3/10 Bananas