Despite a breakout performance by Zach Galifianakis and its reputation as “the good one” that preceded two disappointing sequels, I found most of The Hangover to be pretty tedious.
I’m sure it’s more enjoyable with a group because of the nonstop chaos (the operating theme of this movie is “wait, what the hell is happening?”) but watching a movie like this by myself really forces me to confront its weak points.
The characters are scantly drawn (a jerk, a cuckold, and a weird guy); there’s an over-reliance on “hey, it’s that guy!” cameos masquerading as jokes; and some sequences, including one of Rob Riggle as a taser-happy cop, are just hard to watch in 2020.
There are some good parts too: Galifinakis has some great lines, Ed Helms brings his all to a barely-written character, and the conceit of reconstructing a wild, forgotten evening in Vegas is fun in concept, if not always in execution. But before you ask, no, I’m not going to watch the sequels.