Everyone shares a fantasy of going out on a long road trip with their friends, sharing alcohol, playing poker, going out for adventure, trying out new food, new places, new things without keeping any track of time. The fantasy that one has loads of money which can be spent anywhere, on anything one wants. There are movies that bring us closer to these kinds of fantasies, imaginations, dreams, but somehow leave a footnote telling us to be cautious. Not everyone pays attention to the side notes though, and that is how many people end in trouble. Well, not delivering a moral lecture here, one such movie is the Hangover series.
Hangover series, starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, Heather Graham with a cameo of Mike Tyson (yes, the boxer), is a fun-filled chain of events about how a school teacher, a dentist, and a mentally challenged man end up in an adventure, thrice, to find their missing friend while recollecting memories about what happened last night after they are drugged.
While the first two parts run on a common story line which includes being drugged and losing sense at a Bachelor’s Party only to solve the mess has been created the very next day. The third part is more about an International criminal blackmailing the same guys to get his work done (though it ends in the same manner as the first two parts). Situations are created which are genuinely funny and somewhat unbelievable too. The strongest performance, in my view is delivered by Zach Galifianakis who plays a fat man who is mentally challenged and does bizarre activities every now and then. He names the group of friends ‘the Wolf Pack’, and is the major culprit behind getting all of them drugged (twice), unknowingly though. Cooper plays the pretty boy who is playful and always looking for some fun, in this case, booze and a bachelor parties. The amount of resemblance between him and Hrithik Roshan is disturbing at some level. His character is that of a mischievous school teacher who knows how to live life at the fullest. Ed Helms, playing a dentist in the movie is the one who’s ‘demon’ comes out only when he has lost control of himself. Otherwise, he is a good man. It is not wrong to say that he does the most labour out of all- marrying in Vegas, de-rooting his teeth, and what not. He symbolises that even the simple, geek, boring-looking, regular people (No offence) might be fun from inside (one might have to get them drunk to see that side though).
The movie is definitely a fun ride along with its touch of suspense, thrill and loads of comedy. The characterization is perfect and the roles are played in an equally good manner. The film sure gives birth to the fantasy of an individual to go out with friends and have fun. Though the amount of ‘fun’ shown in the movie might be really hard to handle in real life, but surely meeting up friends and partying is never harmful. Whenever one is feeling low or getting bored, this feel-good movie is highly recommended!