The Hangover

Directed by: Todd Phillips

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham, Sasha Barrese, Jeffrey Tambor

Running Time: 1h 40min

Some people are calling the smash summer success of The Hangover a surprise. I'm not sure why. There's a proven director of funny, adult themed but not necessarily adult rated (read: not raunchy but rather clever) comedy. There's solid comedic actors underplaying a creative, original script. And there's spirited cameos that provide more hilarity than you could possibly imagine when writing them.

Everything that's become cliche about Vegas and what has to happen in a movie set in Vegas is turned upside down. Just the 5 minutes of photographs that play during the end credits provides more laughs than your average Will Ferrell film (by average, i mean more recent). Like classic comedies that stand the test of time, The Hangover builds slowly, allowing gags and premises to pay off as the film progresses. The relative coolness and calm of Galifianakis steals the show, yet each and every actor on screen gets to savour their moments in the kind of reactionary, and not forced, comedy that produces a snowball effect of infectious laughter.

Definitely the year's best comedy.

Grade: A-