Hit – Starring Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianikis, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha, Carlos

The Hangover takes place the morning after a bachelor party in Las Vegas. The only problem is, the groomsmen seem to have misplaced the groom and now must retrace their steps to find him.

I would like to preface this review with this: I saw this film the day before it opened at USC. At the end of the film there was a question and answer session with Todd Phillips which was a treat. The audience at USC was a great audience. There was constant laughter throughout the film.

The next day, I decided to take my husband to see the film at a matinee that had roughly around 25 people in the theatre. The experience was not the same which made the movie less comical. While I still loved this film, I found that something was lost with the audience – therefore, an audience can change the opinion that you have of the film.

That being said, I still find The Hangover to be one of the best rated R comedies I have ever seen. It may even be the best.

Here are a few points from the director that I would like to share with you:

Todd Phillips decided to use actors that were less known in terms of Hollywood because he felt that casting people like Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, or Vince Vaughn would bring a stigma to the film. He says that most of the jokes wouldn’t have worked with those actors because the audience brings their own bias when it comes to known actors. He wanted to make this film more about the comedy aspect and less about the actors.

There is one part of the film that I disagree with the director on and it has to do with one line of dialogue. Early in the film Zach Galifinakis’ character says he is not allowed to be within 200 feet of a school or a Chuck-E-Cheese. Todd Phillips says that the reason for this was that he felt the character would go crazy around a school because he likes to skateboard or play in the bounce houses, etc. But, to the audience, this line made us believe that the character was a pedophile. Which, in turn, caused a scene that was meant to be comedic (involving the baby doing something crude) was not received in the comedic manner that it was meant. Instead it gave it a more creepy vibe.

Overall, I found this movie to be quite hilarious but I must warn you that this is not a movie for children. It is what I would consider to be a “hard R,” film.

Bottom Line: Join the wolf pack.

Comedy

Rated R for pervasive language, sexual content including nudity, and some drug material.

Running Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Miss – Starring Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham Carter, Anton Yelchin

Skynet has come to power and has destroyed most of mankind following a nuclear holocaust. For those who have survived, they must ban together to bring down the machines. They are led by John Conner.

It only took 10 minutes or so into the film when I realized how easy it was for Christian Bale to go crazy on someone who worked on the film. The reason being is that his character is intense, making it easy for him to yell at someone while still in character. Creepy, and yet amazing.

The main downfall of this film was the idea that we were going to see the link between the first film of the series and this film. Sadly, they decided to give us more background of the saga instead of tying it all together into one nice completed package. Because the original started in 1984 the graphics and CGI were not impressive. Now that we have the technology to make it more impressive, I find that going that route keeps the film from being true to itself.

Bottom Line: Why can’t this be the point of Termination for this series?

Action

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and language.

Running Time: 1 hour 55 minutes.