What happens when you let your buddies take you to Vegas for a wild pre-wedding weekend?
A complete blackout, followed by running amok to recover memories of events past. In a nutshell, this is the plot of Hangover, but knowing how the film will end is no excuse for not watching it. Loads of times. It’s only a bonus that however weird the consequences of getting cuckoo drunk are, our stags never say ’if only we stopped after the first coupla shots…’
Three good mates hit the road to party in style for one last time before one of them trades in dignified bachelordom for holy matrimony. To spice things up, they’re accompanied by the wife-to-be’s not-quite-there brother, who later becomes the catalyst of the all-nighter chaos.
The first trip in Sin City takes the foursome to the hotel roof, they drink one for the road and toast the groom and that’s all they remember. (It’s quite heart-warming to know that American golden boys and average Hungarians have one thing in common: their choice of firestarter is Jägermeister.)
Morning finds them in a painful and ugly state, and a tiger in the bathroom. But hey, where’s the future husband? They start looking for him in a booze-mist, finding a never-heard-of wife, a stolen police car, a funny Chinese mobster psychopath, a school presentation and a Rain Man déjà vu along the way. Honestly, ain’t that what you expect to find in Vegas? Tom Jones is only missing from the movie because he was on a world tour at the time of filming…
Hangover is full of over-the top jokes, just like American Pie used to be ten years ago. These characters are no experimenting youngsters, but proper grown-ups, but they share the same sophisticated sense of humor. Fortunately the rudest witticism concerning a holocaust ring can only be uttered by the half-wit brother, so you can laugh your head off and don’t have to be morally shocked. And even if Hangover sets a new trend for American comedies, it still obeys the rule: all’s well that ends well.