I've been doing a hell of a lot of bashing lately. It might be because of my mood. As a matter of fact, I do believe that that has something to do with it. However, I still believe that my critiques are valid. They may come off as more bitchy than cogent, but still valid. That being said, this could turn into another bitchfest.
I saw "The Hangover" back when it came out in June. I, like many others, thought it was a very good comedy, perfectly cast. The main problem I had with the movie is the writing. Now, a lot of people that I know that have seen it thought that the writing was top notch. I agree, to a certain extent.
For those of you who don't know (which I doubt are many), the movie concerns a bachelor party gone horribly wrong in Las Vegas. Two friends and a stray try lose the groom to the wedding a few days before it is set to occur. The next couple of hours (movie time, that is) chronicle their search to figure out exactly what happened that night. They go around Vegas and the surrounding area, finding clues and investigating like detectives in hard-boiled fiction from the 1940s.
The movie has a great premise. The main three characters (as well as the cast as a whole) are able to bring the craziness to a workable level in order for it to still seem somewhat believable. But in the third act, everything goes haywire.
Spoiler Alert-
The main problem with the movie is how neatly everything gets tied up in the end. After all that searching around Vegas, getting beaten up by a naked Chinese mob boss, marrying an escort...all that shit, it turns out that the person they've been looking for was on the roof all along. By the time that we realize what's happened, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth.
We spend about an hour and twenty minutes with these people before they realize that their buddy is on the roof with nothing but a sunburn and a bit of dehydration to show for it. I know what you're thinking: "But they were all drugged and couldn't remember what happened to them." True, but I'm not blaming the characters...I'm blaming the writers.
This type of "twist" is just lazy. It was an easy out. All this danger surrounds these people from the time they wake up with a tiger in their bathroom to the aforementioned naked Chinese mob boss. But yet, nothing happened to the guy they were looking for. He's completely injury free, just left on a rooftop to fend for himself.
Granted, that's not the best fate for someone, but as I said, it's a lazy way of tidying up the script. I understand that it's a comedy and there shouldn't be a sad or depressing ending to it, but then again, it should be based somewhat in reality. This is another movie that doesn't play by it's own rules. "Let's make the entire audience believe that Doug is possibly dead but then at the end show that he only has sunburn. Oh man, that'll be classic!"
I'm not saying Doug should have been dead. I'm not saying he should have lost a finger or anything, but there could have been a better explanation to where he was for the better part of the movie. Maybe, possibly, he was slipped some ecstasy (like Alan thought he was slipping everyone) and went tripping at a Siegfried and Roy show. Who freakin' knows. The point is, there were many possible, better explanations to what happened but they decided to go the easy way out.
Another thing that got me about this movie (and it's not really the movie's fault, but more of a growing trend in Hollywood): Why start a movie two days into the story and then go backwards and say, "Two days earlier..." Again, more lazy screenwriting. When I was taking one of my multiple writing classes in college, one of my professors explained that in the first ten minutes of a movie (or ten pages) that you need to grab the audience's attention. Look at a movie like "Drag Me to Hell". The movie starts with a kid getting taken to Hell. That's the way you start a movie.
Think of your favorite movie. Quickly do it. I'll wait.
...
Okay, got it? Now, think of how it's constructed as a story. I'll take one of my favorite movies: "As Good As It Gets". Think of that movie starting around the time he's at the dinner table with Helen Hunt and he goes, "I got something to tell you..." And then Helen Hunt's face goes soft, she smiles slightly and the picture fades to black. Suddenly, a title card comes up saying, "Two days earlier..."
Essentially, this process screws with whatever tension is in the movie because you know that the characters make it to that point. So anytime in "The Hangover" that Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms or Zack Galifin...Galifinak...the guy that plays Alan are in any sort of danger up to that point, you think to yourself, "Oh, they're fine. They got to the part where Bradley Cooper calls the girl." It completely screws up the flow of the plot. It's cheap and annoying.
And finally, Ken Jeong sucks. Seriously, he's terrible. I don't know why anyone ever gave him the chance to be in anything but "Knocked Up". On the special features for "The Hangover", there is a specific special feature that is titled "The Madness of Ken Jeong". It's about seven minutes of him improving and, for reasons unknown to me, people think he's funny. He was funny in "Knocked Up", but I think that too many people told him he was funny before he actually started to try, therefore being over the top and not funny in 90% of everything he's in.
This past fall, I was really excited about the new TV show "Community". I've always been a huge fan of Joel McHale and it's nice to see that he's getting work. As soon as I saw that Ken Jeong was gonna be in it, I immediately became sad. The man really has no talent whatsoever and has been running on fumes for a while. Most of his jokes in the "hilarious improvisation" has to do with dicks, semen and ejaculation. And if that weren't unfunny enough, he does it in a really high pitched Chinese accent. He is not funny and I hope soon he either becomes a better actor or just stops acting.
I'm not picky, but it just has to be one of those two choices. Anything he's in, he ruins.
Despite all the shit that I just spewed, I really did like "The Hangover" but it's still not nearly as good as "The 40 Year Old Virgin". That is the comedy classic to hold all other comedies to in the past decade. "The Hangover" will last amongst fraternities for years to come, but beyond anything else, I don't really see it going much further.
If only I could have taken a roofie to miss the last fifteen minutes of the movie. Then I could have hallucinated a better ending and a movie without Ken Jeong. Ah, yes. What a joy that would have been...
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