The Hangover: Proof Humor Is Dead. D'oh!
Let me state this unequivocally and in terms that fans of this dreck will understand. The Hangover sucks.
This is the worst movie that has received the most attention. A movie written for children. Retarded, short-bus, bicycle helmet, severely mentally-compromised kids. It's "written" for simpletons who find South Park deep. It's the Boeotian's Citizen Kane. It is devoid of...no, it's beyond devoid. It's vacuous, insipid, vapid, at best. It was written for the mentally-challenged and pathologically-unimaginative. It blows chunks. It induces chunk blowing. It's cinematically emetic.
Get my point?
Look, I love a great poop joke just like the next guy. A well-placed F-bomb is swell. Name it. I love gross. But I love a plot more. Gross with a purpose. Gross with a point. Why is the angry comic so prevalent? You know, the dude who spouts F-this and F-that. The dissolute polemicist who peppers his repertoire with a Curtis LeMay carpet bombing of the almighty F. It's everywhere.
This is punch line without set-up. How sad. Seems to me that the issue today is shock and gross. And what we're producing and catering to is a generation of comedically-myopic, sniveling, low-brow, uneducated dolts who don't want to do the comedic math. The fact that this film is so successful is the clarion call for all, viz. that our civilization is over.
"The Hangover" is emblematic of our HD/ADD Twitter instant text world. Comedic particle board. Composite morsels of nothing that we ingest and/or transmit. The Hangover is Exhibit A in the trial of our century, viz. the murder of humor. This treatment is a predigested ort to the demented dolt who is duped by the delusion that he's hip. The pervert, the ne'er-do-well. This is to whom The Hangover is directed. The constantly-capped, cutely-chapeaued Judah Friedlander freak. You know, the guy in the office who's a loser, a joke, a waste of flesh. The guy who tries to wrap his worthlessness in the cloak of hip or alternative. The rebel without a clue. The cat who waits for the ghost of Kerouac to kick in. The loser. The freak. That's to whom this fetid film is directed.
The Hangover is the clarion call. It sounds the klaxon. It heralds the unraveling of our intellectual quilt. No wonder we can't write, think, speak. Have you noticed how so many kids today mumble nonsensically? Where art thou, Demosthenes? But no. They're "kewl." They don't need no stinkin' rules. No grammar. They're entitled.
It's over, folks.
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I agree completely. Thanks for writing this.
"Retarded, short-bus, bicycle helmet, severely mentally-compromised kids. It's "written" for simpletons who find South Park deep." "It was written for the mentally-challenged and pathologically-unimaginative."
?????
Come again? You believe this movie lacks creativity, but your disgusting need to mercilessly equate the mentally and physically handicapped with a movie you don't like all that much proves that you are above the "unraveling of our intellectual quilt"?
Absolutely pathetic.
I think that every year since the dawn of critcism some type of movie, book, music album, etc, comes out that someone hails as a sign of our descent into a culture devoid of intellect/morality/nougaty spiritual chewiness.
This type of entertainment has always and will always be around--it's not indicative of the fall of erudite comedy, it's just indicative of humanity's enjoyment of the low-brow.
"since the dawn of criticism" I love it!
I went to see it last nite. I almost pee'd my pants at the end when they were looking at pictures.
Guess you shouldn't have seen it sooooooo hung over.
PS: plotwise, it's pretty cool---pretty much a classic mystery with all the surrealism of Hunter S. Thompson on an ether binge.
You have got to be high. I assume that you're comparing it to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which is half of what this movie tries to be, with the other side filled with a combination of Harold and Kumar go to White Caste (which I also hated) and Old School (which stops being funny after the first half hour). The only problem is that it's too farcical and fantastic where one gets the sense that everything in Fear and Loathing may have happened. Where one movie has a man on drugs trying to make sense of the insanity of Las Vegas, the other is just a couple of jokes that are nothing more than the shock of seeing a naked asian coming out of a car, a tiger in the room, or the same asian is in the mob. The other jokes, like the tiger in the room, or Tyson in the room, are ruined by the trailers for the movie.
Look, I love comedies and contrary to the reviewer, I love South Park, but the jokes in this movie just suck. I feel like I'm the crazy person, because all of my friends love it, but whatever.
I haven't seen it yet but I think I'll feel the same way when I do. Great post
That's pretty much what I figured. It looks like nothing but one long "I got soooo drunk that I -fill in the blank" story. I stopped thinking those kinds of stories were funny when I graduated high school.
Do like me: Don't go to movies anymore!!! Watch Colbert!
I blame Dumb and Dumber.
I'd blame SNL. Dumb and Dumber at least had Jeff Daniels to actually make it funny.
I haven't seen it, but I sure feel like I already have. I am also sick of The Machine that goes into overdrive to promote all these movies. They all make the circuit on the same 20 shows in 3 days, telling the same stories and acting like they're making a difference in the world. Bah!
I don't know that I agree with the cataclysmic tone of the article, but I heartily agree that the film was really bad. And I have to say that I am absolutely BAFFLED as to why so many people think it is funny.
I never even cracked a smile!!! To me, it was totally cliché, derivative and lame. This movie seems directed at totally-baked late teen or twenty-something guys. People were laughing at the most inane jokes I have ever heard or seen. For the record, I also thought Pineapple Express was really bad, and Superbad was totally lame. I did however like “Idiocracy”, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”, “I love you Man”, “40 Year-Old Virgin” and other movies that could be considered in the same genre. This film just didn’t work for me though.
You had me until you said you didn't like Pineapple Express or Superbad........I don't understand why
Director John Waters, in his very funny book "Shock Value," distinguishes between bad taste in good taste and just plain bad taste. The latter is cheap and easy and worthless. The former takes genuine artistry.
Elsewhere on this page Nia Vardalos discusses the fact that she had a lot of trouble finding a distributor for the sequel to her massive hit "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" because film companies aren't interested in catering to the female demographic. They, like television and radio programmers, are after men--the younger and whiter the better. And since you can't get men into theaters any more by showing boobies and tuchuses (they can get all they want on the Internet) you have to use poopie jokes.
BTW, John Waters' most recent film, "A Dirty Shame" (which I think is his chef d'oeuvre and one of the funniest films I've ever seen), barely got a theatrical release. Not enough poopie jokes, I guess.
Thank you for bringing up John Waters. Waters is actually a great filmmaker, and dare I say, a real artist. His film Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, and Desperate Living are still funny today. They were shocking in their day, and while some of the gags in the films are not as shocking these days, the films are still funny as hell.
As for A Dirty Shame, it was Waters's funniest films in years, and I was in stiches most of the time.
Wow. This is sad to see. The writer of this article didn't get the subtle humor in this movie. He's railing against it as if it was some shallow slapstick. It wasn't. It wasn't deep, but it was smart. It was like an hour and a half of Curb Your Enthusiasm + alot of mountain dew. You can call that ADD if you want... I call it a rollercoaster comedy. And I laughed my @ss off watching Citizen Kane and I was one of only 2 people in the college film class laughing. Why? Because I got the joke. I don't blame anyone for not getting something, but it's sad when they engage in a self righteous rant about it.
couldn't have said it better myself
bingo
..........also a suspicion of mine about the article.....guess I'll have to see it and decide for myself
I cannot really comment as to whether or not you are being serious, in your estimation of this movie,because I haven't seen it myself.
However, if taken at face value that you truly disliked it, I have a comment about a movie that I'd be curious to know what you thought of.
The movie is "Idiocracy" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/ (Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph). I enjoyed, and have suggested this movie to many people. A great satire,and commentary.
This movie, although stupid to the max, was meant to be just that. The fun of it was to see just how many "send-ups" (about our culture?), could be packed into the time limits of the movie. For this I think it deserves kudos. Any comments?
Just wonderin'.
I LOVE "Idiocracy." It makes me laugh. But sometimes it makes me cry, because it already seem to be becoming reality...
"Idiocracy" barely made it out of distribution hell, doubtless due to it's radical re-invention of product placement. You would have to see the movie to understand---explaining that level of the story could ruin that layer of the movie for you. In any case, the variety of inverted product placement in Idiocracy probably ruined a number of Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation's deals for product tie-ins in future films. No wonder it never really made it to your local theater.
Idiocracy is some kind of brilliant, but the laughter often gets caught in one's throat as one realizes that Mike Judge's judgement is altogether too close to reality---people really are getting that stupid.
Then write a better comedy, Lionel. Remember, though, the old adage of the relative ease of death compared to comedy.
I thought so too. Hilarious. Best comedy I've seen in a while. When I first read your review, I thought you were saying you hated the movie, but when i sifted through all the super-swell, sweeping moments of mirthfull and majestic (albiet masterbatory) alliteration and culled out all of those fifty-cent words you must have learned up in college, i discovered that your review was nothing short of an unqualified thumbs up. I agree. Good stuff. Also, good point on the role of "plot" in comedy. Plot and over plotting comedy almost always ruins the humor. Plot is to humor what self-righteousness is to criticism. Plot is problematic because it talks most and says least. Viva absurdity. Lionel, let me say I'm glad you have a job. These are tough times and as a fellow human being, I'd hate for you to actually be looking for a job right now. You be sure and follow policy around the office. Set two alarms. You can't afford to be back in the job market.
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