The Hangover (2009) * * *

Directed by:  Todd Phillips

Starring:  Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha, Mike Tyson, Ken Jeong, Heather Graham

I write this review having already reviewed its inferior sequels first.     But, I will not hold the sequels against the original film, which is a funny, self-contained comedy with some surprises for the viewer and the characters themselves.     Sequels were not necessary, but when did that ever stop Hollywood from making them?     The Hangover, thankfully, is not a raunch fest, although you would think a comedy about a Las Vegas bachelor party gone wrong would be one.     Most of the raunch is kept off-screen thankfully.     The bigger laughs come from the discoveries the characters make about what actually happened the night of the bachelor party.

The Hangover begins innocently enough.    Four friends travel to Vegas for an epic bachelor party, which thanks to drinks mixed with roofies, the guys wake up the following morning with a tiger in their trashed hotel suite and no memory of any of the previous night's events.     Plus, the groom Doug (Bartha) is missing.     The guys have some clues to go on, but solving this befuddling puzzle will take a lot of effort.     They encounter not only the tiger, but the police, a naked gangster locked in the trunk of their car, an escort with the hots for one of the guys, a baby, and Mike Tyson.      I won't even begin to explain how all of these elements fit together, except to tell you they do and follow a certain logic while doing so.

Why does The Hangover succeed when it just as easily could have stepped wrong?     For one thing, we like the guys:  married teacher Phil (Cooper), henpecked dentist Stu (Helms), and the bride's weirdo brother Alan (Galifiankis), who may as well be from outer space.    The groom is not onscreen most of the movie, but seems like a decent enough fellow.     So, we actually care if these poor guys piece all of this together.     We also like Mike Tyson, who plays himself and shows a comic side not previously seen.     I will divulge that Tyson is indeed the owner of the tiger.

The Hangover is an exercise in clever writing, with twists you may not expect, and some inventiveness.     A less intelligent comedy would lazily fall back on gross-out humor and cheap slapstick gags.     The Hangover wants to be more ambitious than that.     Is there too much plot squeezed in at times?    Yes, but for the most part, the movie delivers some strong laughs borne out of amusing situations and much to the characters' ever-mounting exasperation.     Galifianakis became an unlikely star thanks to this film.     He is really wacky, but he has a heart and the others can keep him in check.    As do the other guys who more or less play straight men to Alan.    

The sequels make the mistake of focusing all of the laughs on Alan, who is better in smaller, more controlled doses.      He is somewhat endearing in his lunacy in this film, while totally insufferable in the next two films.      The sequels made many mistakes the initial film wisely avoids, including mostly recycling the first film in Part II and then turning Part III into the Alan/Mr. Chow show.    Mr. Chow is the naked gangster the guys somehow threw in their trunk during the lost night.     A little of him goes a long way also.