01/08/10 - The Hangover

The Hangover (2009, 108 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1119646/

This movie is a rewatch of a movie I have already written about. The previous post is here:
07/15/09 - The Hangover

Reading over my old review, I agree with most of it. However, I knocked off a lot of points last time with complaints on the side characters. While I agree that that is still true, I don't think it is as harsh as the comments came off last time. I maintain that there are quite a few minor characters, there does not so many that it detracts from anything. Though that could have been that I checked out the Unrated version this time. However, the film does come off as an odd picaresque. Usually in a picaresque the characters interact with other side characters only once. While this is generally true, in The Hangover, everything seems more interconnected than a typical picaresque. It's a strange twist (that I like) on a frequent literary style. Finally, I stated last time that Ken Jeong's Mr. Chow was the worst part of the movie. I retract that statement and now claim that the entire police station bit was the worst part. Mr. Chow wasn't nearly as bad on a second watch.

One thing that I would like to add that was more prominent on this view was that the character interactions are really well done. Particularly, I really like that of Alan Garner and Phil Wenneck. Alan slowly begins to copy Phil's mannerisms with the highlight being when Alan starts saying exactly what Phil says (only without the cursing). Even at the end he asks if his hair is like Phil's. I think I found Zach Galifianakis's character (and acting) the best in the movie, and mainly just because of these little nuances and his mannerisms.

Overall, I gave this film a 7/10 again. I still think it's one of the best comedies to come out recently, though it's not up there with I Love You, Man which is also from 2009. Apparently there's plans for a sequel so it'll be interesting to see how that turns out. Personally, I found this to be a great standalone movie.