"The Hangover," Todd Phillips' new comedy, plays like a mix between "Animal House" and "Memento."
It takes the hackneyed idea of the bachelor party gone awry - epitomized in the film called, funnily enough, "Bachelor Party" - and tilts it on its head, masking much of the sordid events in an alcoholic blackout and leaving them to the audience's imagination.
The groom-to-be is Doug (Justin Bartha), who embarks on a one-night trip to Vegas with three friends: Stu (Ed Helms), a preppie dentist; Phil, a jerk who jumps at the chance to leave his wife and kids for the weekend; and Alan (Zach Galifianakis), Doug's future brother-in-law who may or may not be mentally-challenged and who at one point makes a passing reference to his status as a registered sex offender.
The film begins with the three buddies calling Doug's fiancee the day of the wedding to inform her that they won't make it in time, then flashes back to the beginning of the whole mess -- a toast on the roof of their Vegas suite.
Smash cut to the next morning, and their room is in shambles, a baby is in the closet and a fully-grown tiger occupies the bathroom. No one can remember a thing, and Doug is gone.
Gradually, they piece together clues from what they can: valet stubs, bills, even the security footage of Mike Tyson, who owns the tiger in the bathroom.
The dialogue, which is almost uniformly funny, not only gets laughs but delves into these characters. I wouldn't call it insightful, but there's more at work here than just lowbrow gags.
The film was written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, who also penned this year's "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past."
How the writers of that film created something as engaging as this is a mystery. They even make the cameos work, using them not for easy laughs but to actually further the story and the leads.
Unfortunately, they do give in to some easy stereotyping at times: Stu's girlfriend Melissa (Rachel Harris) is portrayed as a shrill, emasculating harpy.
Ken Jeong's first appearance is uproarious, but he returns later as a mincing gay stereotype who also speaks in a mocking Asian accent.
Nevertheless, if you add up all these moments of insulting and grating stereotyping, they make up about the only three minutes of the film that aren't funny.
The physical comedy works, the dialogue works and the payoff works.
Lucas and Moore know that what we imagine these guys were up to will always be funnier than anything they could put on-screen, and for once a frat-comedy leaves something to the imagination.
The hysterical photos in the credits only raise more questions.
The cast has a natural rapport, and Galifianakis in particular gives a star-making performance. He plays Alan with such a straight face that you completely buy his never-ending stream of non-sequiturs.
Though I wish Lucas and Moore had stuck to the smarter aspect of the story and left out the easier gags, "The Hangover" is one of the funniest films in a long while and a highlight of the first half of 2009.
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