A particular brand of comedy film became popular in the mid-late 00s,somewhat juvenile humour with man-children-type characters.You could argue it was popularized by Will Ferrell - in such movies as Anchorman, Wedding Crashers & Step Brothers. Or in Seth Rogen films like Superbad and Knocked Up, here it is Zach Galifianakis who plays our man-child protagonist, and you know what, it's a pretty damn fun film!
I recently rewatched The Hangover and found myself laughing out loud at some of the scenes and lines. This is a genuinely funny film. Bradley Cooper, who I've struggled to take seriously as a leading man is excellent as the suave leader of this 'wolfpack', the afformentioned Galifianakis is funny with just the right amount of sympathy, Ed Helms is excellent as a cuckolded stiff who perhaps has the biggest individual journey of the film and is arguably the film's main character.
There are great side characters, most memorably Ken Jeong as Mr Chow, Heather Graham as Jade, Mike Epps as 'Black Doug' (I'll be your Doug!) not to mention a Mike Tyson cameo, singing Phil Collins In The Air, no less!
There are movies I prefer, definitely Superbad connects with me a little more than The Hangover, and there is something of a detraction on how the franchise has been milked with subpar sequels but this first Hangover rightly deserves a place on the 1001 list and is definitely amongst the best of its genre.
Oh, and the wedding band's cover of Candy Shop is amazing!
BEST SCENE: The 'one man Wolfpack' scene always gets me. Galifianakis' delivery is great.
BEST CHARACTER: Stu - whilst he doesn't get all the stand out comedy moments, he has the most defined character arch and when he kicks Rachael Harris to the curb at the end of the film we definitely are cheering for him.
BEST QUOTE: "You are literally too stupid to insult" "...thank you."
RATING: ★★★☆ - 3 1/2 stars represents a strong showing for this genre of comedy which does not feature too strongly on either my own personal favourite lists or the 1001 Movies list. This is a film working fairly near the top of a genre that is fairly limited.
MOVIES WATCHED:5
MOVIES REMAINING: 996
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