Agnew's Mind He's got a long journey ahead of him.

The Hangover = The Most Overrated Movie Of All Time

    by Matt

First, I must say that I finally saw The Hangover for the first time yesterday. I've heard SO much about the movie. People were touting this movie as the best comedy since Old School and some even claimed it's better. Movies like Anchorman, Wedding Crashers, and Happy Gilmore weren't even in The Hangover's league. I even heard one younger person describe The Hangover was better than Dumb & Dumber! Yes. Keep in mind this kid was 18, so that makes him like, what?... 5 years old when Dumb & Dumber was released. Maybe he was referring to the hit sequel. Now, I try not to over-hype things nowadays, so I avoided Hangover discussions and talk. I couldn't escape it, however, and even heard talk about it on WIP (sports radio).  I really wanted to see it. If it was as good as people said, it would live up to the hype. At the same time, I didn't go out of my way to watch it. Yesterday, that changed.

The movie begins and initially introduces the main character's brother-in-law as the crazy wacky guy that's just going to say random things.... okay.... so he's like this movie's "Brick", but crazy. I saw where that was going a mile away.  Suddenly, the movie flashed forward to the end of the bachelor party and we find out that they lost his car...errr  no, I mean the groom. Wait, this SEEMS familiar. So essentially, the whole movie is a back story to the night as 4 guys celebrate the groom-to-be's final night of single hood. We see them get together, drive to Vegas, begin the night - BLACK OUT. We have no idea what happened next. We see them wake up, Doug is missing, a tiger in their room, a missing tooth, and a crying baby all have taken place. Doug's future father-in-law lends him his luxurious Benz for the trip and when the 3 remaining guys attempt to get their car from the parking garage in order to re-trace their steps, they are given an entirely different car by the valet.... a police cruiser. Wait, THIS sounds so familiar!

The rest of the movie is basically the 3 guys going back to places they visited throughout the night gathering clues to where their friend may be. They even bump into Mike Tyson, whose cameo has been much over-hyped and wasn't as funny as I thought it would be. I mean, you have Mike Tyson here. The possibilities are endless comedy-wise.

Wait, now there are dangerous, violent people after the guys?!?! Then it hit me..... this seems so strange ....and familiar:

Right! Exactly! From the opening moments, I knew that they were building up to something good and something has to happen... really funny... and it never truly did. Why? I couldn't get past the fact they RIPPED off a cheesy Ashton Kutcher movie. Now, Dude Where's My Car? is what it is: A major movie debut for Ashton Kutcher with the share of the lead and a horrible unrealistic stoner plot. Some could argue that it's a "good" horrible. It's so bad that some of it may be good. Regardless of what you think, you can't deny that Dude Where's My Car? came first.

The acting, overall quality, realism, story, and overall feel of The Hangover is superior to Dude Where's My Car? I really liked the funny character development with the 3 guys (we dont' get much of the missing groom-to-be) especially the whipped guy and the running joke about his girlfriend banging a waiter on cruise....or is it a bartender? The fact people are so quick to "crown" this movie is a joke. It had some funny parts, of course, more than the average comedy, yes, but to "crown" it is a little absurd.

Overall, good movie, just not the movie everyone thought it is. I think that one of two things happened here. One, people are just marks and never heard of, saw, or remember Dude Where's My Car? Two, people just didn't care and blatantly ignored the fact the movie was a rip-off and fell victim to the crazy Alan character besides the fact he was a crazier "Brick" from Anchorman. The Hangover is for a generation that will never get to live through first-run classic movies like Old School, Anchorman, dare I say Dumb & Dumber and give them a chance to memorize some quotes and think they are being funny. This is their claim to fame. Hey, goooooooooood for youuuuuuuuuuu, but it's not that great.

For your comparison:

Dumb & Dumber: * Too good to rank*

Old School: 5/5

Anchorman: 5/5

Wedding Crashers: 4.5/5

The Hangover: 3/5

Dude Where's My Car?: 2/5