The Hangover

With "Doug" (Justin Bartha) about to tie the knot, he sets off in his soon-to-be father-in-law's vintage Mercedes with three of his friends for his stag night. Naturally, they've lied about their destination and head straight to Vegas for a night of fun and frolicking. Safety ensconsed in a suite at Caesar's Palace (no, Julius didn't ever live there), they set of for a night on the tiles and we rejoin the party next morning where they are, as the title suggests, in a bit of a state. Aside from the headaches, there is a tiger in the bathroom, a baby has appeared from somewhere and there is a chicken clucking away across the expensive shag-pile carpet. More importantly, there is absolutely no sign of the groom! Dentist "Stu" (Ed Helms) has managed to lose one of his front teeth; "Alan" (Zach Galifianakis) is a bit battered and bruised and "Phil" (Bradley Cooper) has apparently been in hospital - if his wrist tag it to be belived. Now they have to piece together just what happened during their roofie-induced evening, find the groom and hopefully make it to the wedding in a mere five hours time. Their first clue is their car. It's not the Mercedes that arrives at the lobby, but a police car. What are they doing with that? Why is a very camp gangster chasing them? What's this about an $80,000 win in the casino and can they manage to keep their significant others at bay on the phones - especially the really quite odious "Melissa" (Rachael Harris) whom poor old "Stu" actually wants to marry! It's not quite as mobile as "Road Trip" (2000) nor as crass as "American Pie" (1999) but this concept is very similar as these hapless gents experience some daft escapades that reminded me why slapstick never really worked for me. It's not that it's isn't funny at times, it's just that it's all just a little too predicatble and puerile and people getting tasered in the nether regions is just a bit too modern-day "Carry On" for me. Maybe it's time that hasn't been so kind to it, but I struggled to remain engaged and wanted to put my money more on the underused tiger.