While Vegas is no doubt a great setting for a comedy, it’s been done more than a few times before.  However, what makes The Hangover stand out is its relatively little known cast (save for Mike Tyson of course) and its evenly paced story.

The Hangover starts out fairly predictably with Doug, his friends Stu and Phil, and his forthcoming brother-in-law Alan, gearing up for a wicked bachelor party.  They (barely) arrive in one piece, toast to a night to remember (hopefully) and wake up to find the husband-to-be completely missing, a tiger in their hotel bathroom, a baby left in the closet and a completely trashed suite complete with a chair that’s still smoldering.  After finding none of them can remember anything at all, they begin retracing their steps to try and locate Doug with hours to spare before the wedding.

Again, while it starts out kind of cliché, it certainly doesn’t continue in this way.  The Hangover is rife with entertainment throughout as Alan, Stu, and Phil relentlessly scramble to piece together the events of the night before. Speaking of which, Alan (Zack Galifianakis) is easily the most memorable of the bunch with excellent deadpan delivery and a quiet charm when he’s not coming off as a bumbling idiot.  He just does a fantastic job playing a character who means well but consistently delivers as a point of contention among the others.  It’s also nice to see that Bradley Cooper doesn’t end up playing a big bag of douche as he has in the past and his character, Phil is a great compliment to the others as a stable, regular guy who’s just kind of a dick. The fact that all the actors enjoy a great rapport onscreen is no accident either as prior to filming they actually spent a lot of time developing that camradery in Vegas together.  Watching it you can’t help but get the feeling that they really did have an absolute blast making this film.

While the laughs keep coming, the pacing feels more deliberate than other films in the genre.  It’s not that it feels less funny, but it seems as much care was put into progressing the story as eliciting laughs through tried-and-true comedic elements.  This was a nice change of pace to see director Todd Phillips eschew many comedy conventions to keep the story as engaging as it is laugh-worthy.

The set locations are varied as well, having the boys run all over Vegas in some of its most recognizable locales such as Caesar’s Palace.  It’s also helpful that there are some great sweeping shots of the city that are more stylized than you might expect. I’m not saying it’s oscar-caliber or anything of the sort, but the production values definitely exhibit a touch of class you wouldn’t normally see in a comedy. There are also more than a few homages to other classic films set in Vegas for the eagle-eyed among you. It’s a nice touch and comes off as a humble thanks to the movies that have tread this ground before. Clearly this attention to detail paid off as The Hangover smashed through the box office its opening weekend.

All in all The Hangover is a fantastic summer comedy with a solid execution making for an experience that just about anybody can enjoy.

8 out of 10.

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