It’s a rare comedy that one cherishes for its plot, but here it is. It has all of the trappings of the trite, i.e., four guys headed for Vegas on a pre-wedding bender. Major stereotypes are covered. Ranging from most to least socially adapted (and, not incidentally, physically attractive), they are the womanizing bully (Bradley Cooper), the regular-guy groom-to-be (Justin Bartha), the pussy-whipped milquetoast (Ed Helms), and the bearded misfit (Zach Galifianakis, resembling the flabby grandson of Alan Bates). Minor stereotypes are covered, too—the shrew girlfriend, the shrimpy Chinese guy, the black drug dealer, and so on.
The city‘s genius tourist slogan gets trotted out early in the first reel. What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but after waking up in a hilariously trashed hotel room, these guys can’t even remember what happened, and may not be able to get out of Vegas in time for the ceremony, since they can’t find the groom. Or the mother of the baby in their room. Or may get eaten by the tiger in he bathroom, or murdered by Japanese gangsters. It would be an exaggeration to say everything gets explained with documentary-like rigor, but it does get it explained. (That is, except the live chicken, unless I missed it.)
There’s a certain amount of crude humor, and a certain amount of rude behavior, but it doesn’t get overdone, though it seems like it will at the beginning. (Cooper’s character starts off seeming like a cocky asshole, and Galifianakis’s seems too odd to seem real, but both become more sympathetic.) The stereotypes are not the basis for most of the humor. This is billed as being from the director of Old School (Todd Phillips), but rather than yet another celebration of extended male adolescence, it’s more like an odyssey of normal men thrust into a bizarre situation. Written by the team responsible for Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and Four Christmases, it’s nonetheless good enough to appeal to anyone who doesn’t mind their comedy on the goofy side.
IMDB link
viewed 5/20/09 at Bridge (screening); reviewd 5/26/ and 6/13/09
No comments:
Post a Comment