The Hangover

The Hangover was cry-laugh good. With the title clueing us in as to the where/when the action will take place, this story begins near the end, with one member of a Vegas bachelor party (Bradley Cooper), dirty and bleeding by the side of a desert road, telling a dressed-and-ready bride via cell phone that they’ve lost the groom (Justin Bartha). In fact, we never really see the wild night that leads to the hangover. Instead, after the intro, we jump back to the morning-after and learn the extent of the night’s debauchery via the unbelievable consequences that unfold as the three who remain search for their buddy during the party’s two-day aftermath. The motley trio is made up of the groom’s two best friends—a crude pretty boy played by the fittingly cocksure Cooper and a seriously p-whipped dentist played with characteristic lovable-schmuck charm by The Office’s Ed Helms—and his slobbish and slightly un-hinged future brother-in-law Alan (comedian Zach Galifianakis). Director Todd Phillips has returned to his Old School hilarity here, piling on the wonderfully tasteless and often physically painful gags as the picture of what was a bar-setting Vegas bachelor party comes into focus. Feather River Cinemas, Paradise Cinema 7 and Tinseltown. Rated R.