'The Hangover' - a hilarious guys' night out flick (IANS Film Review; Rating: ***)

Film: "The Hangover"; Cast: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham, Sasha Barrese, Rachael Harris, Mike Tyson; Director: Todd Phillips; Rating: ***

Do you want to know what happens at a bachelor's party or at an all-guys outing in Las Vegas? Or are you just looking for some mindless fun? Go watch "The Hangover", a film full of sexual innuendos but really funny nevertheless.

The film is not about the unpleasant physical effects following binge drinking - it's a completely different hangover and an entertaining one at that.

Most of the dialogues in the film are interspersed with 'f' words and sexual innuendos. And some scenes are really gross but never mind... after all it's about guys on a crazy partying spree.

The story is about a group of four friends who decide to freak out in Las Vegas.

Doug (Justin Bartha) is getting married so his friends want to treat him with a bachelor's party in Las Vegas. So Phil (Bradley Cooper), a schoolteacher, Stu (Ed Helms), a dentist with a controlling girlfriend and Alan (Zach Galifianakis), Doug's to-be brother-in-law pack themselves into a sleek Mercedes and drive off to their destination.

As excited as a bunch of kids, the four land up in a posh hotel and book themselves into a huge suite. Soon all of them get together on the hotel's rooftop to toast their friendship. So far so good.

But the real adventure begins when they wake up next morning in their suite to find a lion in their loo, a baby in the cupboard, birds fluttering around and a missing friend - Doug.

The unfortunate part is that they don't remember a thing so Phil decides to go in the reverse order to find out what happened to them the previous night and trace Doug.

The trick works and one after another they find clues that lead them to the incidents of the night before. And what they realise is truly bizarre as they packed some of the craziest stunts in one night -- while Stu ended up marrying a stripper, Alan robbed a sisy Chinese gambler of his money at the casino, stripped him and locked him up in the boot of the car and to top it all Phel and Doug stole Myke Tyson's pet lion and a police car.

And all these people are on the lookout for the bunch of friends. While Doug is not to be found, the other three are greeted with Tyson's punches, gunshots from the Chinese gambler's bodyguards and a good bashing up from the cops.

Amidst all the chaos, Alan remembers that he mixed some drugs in their drinks and that's why they don't remember anything about their night out.

"The Hangover" is a mindless comedy and seems to be written with the sole purpose of entertaining. It moves at the right pace from the beginning to the end and tickles your funny bone with some of the craziest of scenes.

If you are planning to watch it with the family, drop the idea... watch it with your best buddies and you'll have a whale of time.

Last updated on Jun 27^th, 2009 at 15:28 pm IST--IANS