Split wide open. Review on The Hangover Movie

I could very well be the last person to have said anything about this comic caper, because I watched it yesterday (Jul 2). The laughs, the gags, the guys (or dogs, considering that's how it all starts), is worth spending time and money on, if you're away from Bollywood cinema for sometime.

In fact, the movie scores on almost all fronts, considering you are guffawing and actually follow the trail of broken bottles, floating toys, tiger antics, a world famous boxer and of course, a missing groom. It's a voyeuristic delight, as all along you're subjected to a topsy turvy bachelor party with a kid, drug dealers thrown in at apt moments to tickle us.

Someone said that reportedly Akshay Kumar has taken a potshot at the movie saying if we do crass humour, we're thrashed, and likewise if the West does it, it's appreciated. I guess, if it's true that the actor said this, then I must pause here. The West has a way of jotting a slapstick plot with good casting, acting, dialogues that come at the right moment and of course, jokes that stay in your brain, long after the credits have rolled. In Bollywood, it's uncommon to see good acting matched by good dialogues. Coming back to the film, the plot takes you around in circles as the three friends begin searching for their friend, a missing tooth, and an abandoned baby's parents.

The character of Alan (Zach Galifianakis) needs particular mention, as he holds the plot together with his naiivete and surprising (though brief) transformation to a man hitting big at the casino. Fat Jesus, as he is once called during the movie, has you twisting in laughter when it's revealed why his friend lost a tooth and initially, when he is reading his speech while raising a toast.

A fun ending with a side-splitting song at the wedding, the movie makes a small turn towards the real, when the dentist (just a dentist!) breaks up with his girl friend. And of course, Alan takes the cake with his gesture towards his friend's ex-girlfriend. I was reading somewhere Bollywood plans to do a Hangover remake. Well, it seems like "I can be your Doug!"