Taking the country by storm is the new non-Apatow comedy, The Hangover, from director Todd Phillips, the man behind dude comedies Road Trip (2000), Old School (2003), the Starsky & Hutch revamp (2004) and the School For Scoundrels (2006) remake. I’m just laying out our parameters, here. There’s nothing essentially wrong with The Hangover, and in fact, it’s quite funny and has several hilarious sequences that one could very well term as priceless. My biggest bone to pick with the film would be the stereotypical use of gay jokes that always spark my ire in the dude comedy. I look forward to a day when writers/directors/producers creating films aimed at the audience known as the heterosexual male will completely eradicate offensive humor towards the GLBT (or LGBT, whatever works) community. Within the first ten minutes we hear “don’t text me, text messages are gay,” and then we have Bradley Cooper screaming “Dr. Faggot” outside of Ed Helm’s house. I find this to be extremely inappropriate. Would there be any laughter at the use of the N word? I’m just itching for the day when faggot is elevated to similar status and people realize it’s just not okay to use. Now, gay people calling other gay people a faggot, well, honey, we deserve the right to do that. It’s just like when white people bitch about black people calling each other the N word.
Anyhow, let me get down from my soapbox. The three leads of the film, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis are quite entertaining in their various misadventures as they try to piece together what exactly happened the night before during their friend’s Vegas Bachelor Party. The problem is, they’re so entertaining, we forget and don’t really care if they do find their extremely dull friend Doug, a character the writers forgot to write---ditto for his fiancée and her parents (Jeffrey Tambor and Sondra Currie). And also entertaining is Heather Graham, who plays the same character she always plays, a nympho sex kitten with a bubbly personality and a heart of gold--like she is in Boogie Nights (1997), Bowfinger (1999), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1997), The Oh in Ohio (2006), and then the depressing prostitute nympho in From Hell (2001). Yes, it’s vulgar, obscene, and offensive---it’s an adult comedy for dudes. At least there’s no Ferrell or Apatow stamp. What annoys me most of all is the fact that production went forward on the sequel even before the release of this film due to this film’s excellent reception with previews screenings for test audiences. So now we usher in a new comedic force in mainstream American cinema. And I don’t dislike Bradley Cooper (but what the hell was The Midnight Meat Train- 2008, and yes, I would ask Brooke Shields the same question with the same disparaging tone), but it must have been his long locks in The Hangover that made me think he looks like Chanelle, the drag queen from Vegas that recently competed in “Ru Paul’s Drag Race.” I’m not trying to be mean---they do look alike. As for Galifianakis’ character, there are way too many contemporary pop culture references, which will date the film, and to me, aren’t all that funny. Why is he going to the Jonas Bros. concert? Call me a cynic, but is that what we have to look forward to in this country? The everlasting staying power of the Jonas Bros.? The use of hot, new (or kind of new) pop songs blindly dropped into mainstream Cineplex films also irritates me--do we NEED a Rihanna song as they check into the Vegas hotel? I shouldn’t be too harsh—it’s really summer fluff---but that’s what Apatow started out as---and look at all the influence/power he has now. Friends and loved ones are always telling me, you can’t examine some films to such a close degree. You can’t ask those questions or have those expectations from things like teen comedies, Hollywood horror, or porn. Fuck that. Nothing is really only about consumption. What happens to things you consume? They get digested or vomited up. In the end, I’ll say this: The Hangover is definitely worth a matinee price.
Anyhow, let me get down from my soapbox. The three leads of the film, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis are quite entertaining in their various misadventures as they try to piece together what exactly happened the night before during their friend’s Vegas Bachelor Party. The problem is, they’re so entertaining, we forget and don’t really care if they do find their extremely dull friend Doug, a character the writers forgot to write---ditto for his fiancée and her parents (Jeffrey Tambor and Sondra Currie). And also entertaining is Heather Graham, who plays the same character she always plays, a nympho sex kitten with a bubbly personality and a heart of gold--like she is in Boogie Nights (1997), Bowfinger (1999), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1997), The Oh in Ohio (2006), and then the depressing prostitute nympho in From Hell (2001). Yes, it’s vulgar, obscene, and offensive---it’s an adult comedy for dudes. At least there’s no Ferrell or Apatow stamp. What annoys me most of all is the fact that production went forward on the sequel even before the release of this film due to this film’s excellent reception with previews screenings for test audiences. So now we usher in a new comedic force in mainstream American cinema. And I don’t dislike Bradley Cooper (but what the hell was The Midnight Meat Train- 2008, and yes, I would ask Brooke Shields the same question with the same disparaging tone), but it must have been his long locks in The Hangover that made me think he looks like Chanelle, the drag queen from Vegas that recently competed in “Ru Paul’s Drag Race.” I’m not trying to be mean---they do look alike. As for Galifianakis’ character, there are way too many contemporary pop culture references, which will date the film, and to me, aren’t all that funny. Why is he going to the Jonas Bros. concert? Call me a cynic, but is that what we have to look forward to in this country? The everlasting staying power of the Jonas Bros.? The use of hot, new (or kind of new) pop songs blindly dropped into mainstream Cineplex films also irritates me--do we NEED a Rihanna song as they check into the Vegas hotel? I shouldn’t be too harsh—it’s really summer fluff---but that’s what Apatow started out as---and look at all the influence/power he has now. Friends and loved ones are always telling me, you can’t examine some films to such a close degree. You can’t ask those questions or have those expectations from things like teen comedies, Hollywood horror, or porn. Fuck that. Nothing is really only about consumption. What happens to things you consume? They get digested or vomited up. In the end, I’ll say this: The Hangover is definitely worth a matinee price.
These frat boy movies do tend to go overboard in overcompensating
ReplyDeleteby making inappropriate jokes about the LGBT community. Not only
do they have to go to the extreme in playing stupid white boy pranks, but
they also have to make jokes to downplay someone else’s masculinity,
to make themselves feel more manly. It’s basically used to fuck so who
cares what hole it does in right?! Hahaha! To each their own hole!