Film Review: The Hangover
June 8, 2009
Its frustrating to see a film which loses sight of its purpose.”The Hangover” has a nice cast, but it hovers in between being simply a buddy comedy and a film with something to say. It’s never quite clear about whether it is demonizing the behavior of its characters or exulting it.
A group of men decide to leave life behind for the weekend and travel to Vegas, presumably to let loose for an evening and ignore their responsibilities. Things (of course) go haywire and the group spends the majority of their time in Vegas searching for the groom and trying to remember what the hell happened to them.
During the more humorous moments, it seems pretty clear that the viewer should idolize debaucherous behavior. Its as though nothing that bad can really happen to these men, despite the fact that they’ve made all of the cliche mistakes of a typical Vegas tourist. Yet somehow, true disaster seems to avoid them every step of the way. Its as though they are untouchable. Supermen.
I suppose it’s up to the viewer as to whether this is a good thing. Those with a pre-disposition to condemning the characters and their behavior will no doubt condemn them. While those with a pre-disposition to lust for similar experiences of their own will simply laugh alongside them and leave with a fuzzy warm feeling.
I’m of neither disposition. I’m of the disposition that although its a film with some pretty decent one liners and pratfall comedy, its ultimately a pretty terrible film without much to say about anything. Although, perhaps thats the point?
Unfortunately for those who desire an experience like those portrayed in the film, the stark realities of life are completely ignored, unaddressed entirely. These men are never held to task for some of the things that they become privy to. Everything is just so convenient. It leaves a sick feeling in my stomach to think that there could be creatures like this in the world, romping across its surface and hiding their terrible wrongs from those that love them.
These men should not be idealized, they should be made examples of! In my opinion, the filmakers lost an oppurtunity here to say something true about love and war. All is not fair and we are all responsible for our actions.
We can still laugh while learning from a movie.
