Looking for Wednesday night plans? We have you covered.
Let me guess. You’ve reached hump day and are searching for a reprieve from the weekly grind we all find ourselves lost to. But where can such an escape be found? Out on the town? On a Wednesday night, probably not. A mid-week gym sesh? You’d probably rather die than sweat out your very will to live. No, the answer lies within your Netflix subscription, in the form of the 2010 classic The Hangover.
Starring the likes of Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham and numerous more Hollywood heavyweights, the film was filled with top-notch performances (even Mike Tyson’s brief cameo was actually decent). Combine that with a genius plot and witty dialogue, and you’ve got a total home run. The world agreed when the film was released over a decade ago, and thankfully, it’s managed to more than hold up since.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcdUhdOlz9M
And so, we’ve made an Executive Decision. You’re jumping on Netflix and chucking on the The Hangover tonight. To further convince you it’s the right choice, we’ve pulled together five crudely thought out reasons for you (choosing only five was next to impossible). Thank us later:
Las Vegas at night
I know Las Vegas isn’t really a main focus in this film, but still, the U.S. casino capital is alive with danger and euphoria in this flick. Whether it be montages of Vegas streets at night or scenes on empty rooftops, director Todd Phillips actually makes Vegas look genuinely exciting, and sets the perfect scene for a million things to go wrong for our ensemble cast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIHlD3Ae1JM
Stu’s song
Okay, this scene was totally unexpected but fit perfectly. I mean the context surrounding it is pretty outrageous, our band of hooligans having stolen Mike Tyson’s tiger and subsequently drugging it to ensure it’s return to the boxers mansion. It’s totally out of the box, and Stu’s impromptu lullaby is the icing on the cake of the whole shebang, lines like “Do they dream of mauling zebras?/Or Halle Berry in her catwoman suit?” still prompting many laughs all these years later. Fun fact: the song wasn’t even in the initial script. Rather, it was born from Ed Helms playing the piano between takes to make the crew laugh, which makes it even more awesome.
The ungodly amount of roasts
Every second line of this film seems to be aimed at roasting the absolute shit out of someone, and it’s glorious to behold. Understandably, Zach Galifianakis’ Alan cops the brunt of it from all directions, and considering that almost everything that goes wrong in the film is because of him, we can see why. Ken Jeong’s Leslie Chow’s flogging of him is especially good however, as evidenced by the scene below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DwmPAjKb2E
Counting cards has never looked so easy
I can’t have been the only one to have been tempted to pop on a tux and hit up the Star after watching this scene, Zach Galifianakis’ Alan making card counting look easy as can be in this scene in Caesar’s Palace. The fact that it’s set to Aussie rock outfit Wolfmother’s ‘Joker and the Thief’ is a sweet touch as well, turning what should be a relatively chilled out sequences to one of the most high-octane parts of the whole film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeazgPwP3D0
It gave us Zach Galifianakis
There were plenty of standout performances in this film don’t get me wrong, but Zach Galifianakis’ portrayal of Alan, the social awkward and drink-spiking manic, was absolutely genius. He managed to steal every scene he was in (minus the few he shared with Ken Jeong’s Leslie Chow), and somehow managed to make you despise every aspect of his being, while simultaneously begging for him to have more screen time.
