The Hangover

I indulged in a little guilty pleasure the other night and went to see ‘The Hangover’. (Incidentally they’ve ‘translated’ this title into French as ‘Very Bad Trip’). Seeing this kind of film is typically associated with feelings of guilt that I’m actively choosing to rot my brain and support Hollywood’s retardization of the masses, but actually I felt pretty good when I left. I actually only ended up seeing it because ‘Whatever Works’ was sold out, but I had been intrigued by stories of how this relatively low-budget film had absolutely cleaned up at the box office. I always love a cinematic underdog. Shamefully, my inner-ogler had also cried out that it needed feeding with some Bradley Cooper.

Overall ‘The Hangover’ is a thoroughly entertaining ride. The story centres on 4 guys – one a groom-to-be – who go on their stag night in Vegas, and wake up the next morning with no recollection of what happened. Their few clues include the fact that the groom is missing, there is a tiger in the bathroom, a baby in a cupboard and their hotel suite is turned upside down. We piece the night back together with them, including the theft of a police car, a Vegas marriage (between the most serious guy and a prostitute), a run-in at the hospital and a disastrous spell in the casino.

I might have concluded it entirely harmless if it were not for the jaw-dropping Chinese caricature in the shape of Ken Jeong as Mr Chow. His impossibly exaggerated gay mafia character provides a number of really wince-worthy moments. These are complemented by the grey area that concerns whether one of the party, Alan, is actually mentally retarded. It’s never quite established, but it doesn’t stop us enjoying some jokes at his expense, as well as wondering whether we’re allowed to laugh at some of Alan’s own jokes, such as when he gestures to make it look like the baby they’ve found is masturbating.

I’m starting to wonder where Heather Graham ends and her washed-up prostitute act begins. I once read that her parents haven’t spoken to her for some time as they don’t agree with the roles she chooses to play. Indeed, one of her most famous earlier roles was as the risqué Rollergirl in the fantastic Boogie Nights, a film about the porn industry where she played once of its ditzy stars. But since then we’ve rarely seen her in a role that hasn’t played out to a male fantasy in some respect – be it Felicity Shagwell in Austin Powers (yes I know it’s tongue in cheek), or the gross-out scatology-fest Baby on Board. Here she plays a beyond-dumb stripper/prostitute (she explain with wide eyes that stripping helps her to get the clients) whose shining moment comes when she gets her boobs out to breastfeed her baby. She’s 39 now and I’m wondering whether she needs to think about changing this act. I don’t even want to get into the significance of the fact that the guy who marries the stripper has a long-term nagging girlfriend at home, who he eventually humiliates at a wedding before dumping her, by which point he has already arranged to see Graham’s character (who he has accidentally married) again – ballbreaker/prostitute, bitch/ditz?

A relatively low-budget surprise success (cost $35m, gross as of 30/08/09 $417m) I’m wondering if this film slipped quietly past the censors as the photos of the stag night which are interspersed with the credits at the end are really pretty shocking – funny, but shocking – including such treasures as one of the party getting a blow job. They are very lo-fi and certainly reveal the film’s low budget, but as you watch them you realise how much of a blast the crew must have had making this, and as long as we’ve enjoyed watching it, then everything’s OK.