The Hangover 2009

Critics score:
79 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine: Miraculously, we still like Alan and Stu and Phil even as we crack up when they get tazed and beaten. Phillips has pulled off a feat of balance that rivals Cirque du Soleil down the Strip. Read more

Ben Lyons, At the Movies: I think this is going to be a big comedy hit this summer. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The movie smells like a hit, but honestly: Helms excepted, did it need to be quite so blandly cast, or quite so lamely raunchy? Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Waking up with a hangover and no memory of what happened the night before is an experience most people can relate to, but it's also a surefire device for comedy. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: The Hangover should be a huge hit this summer for laugh-starved audiences; happily, it delivers. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: It's a film about forgetting that seems designed to be forgotten. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It's so funny it might convince you that sometimes the raunchy journey is worth the laugh-out-loud reward. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The latest in the wave of post-Judd Apatow Bad Lad comedies, The Hangover is rowdy, scurrilous, and, for about three-quarters of its running time, a lot more hilarious than it has any right to be. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Early in this unraveling adventure, a Vegas tourist quips, "Some guys just can't handle Vegas." Yeah, we know a couple: writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Superbly cast, well-written and so silly it makes your teeth ache. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The Hangover has scattered laughs (many in the cathartically funny end-credit montage), but overall it's more amusing than hilarious. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: There is a sort of perverse brilliance or brilliant perverseness to be found in this story of a bachelor party gone terribly wrong. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The Hangover remains unrepentantly irresponsible and hilarious throughout, culminating with what could be the funniest montage ever to grace a picture's end credits. The summer's first sleeper hit has arrived. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Surprisingly funny and smartly acted. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Every summer needs at least one silly, dirty comedy, but The Hangover may end up being one of the few to actually get the mix right. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Amusing as it is, it never feels real. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Memento meets Old School? It's party time. Read more

Sara Vilkomerson, New York Observer: You might be embarrassed by laughing at some of the silliness, but don't be: Everyone else will be cracking up, too. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's hilarious in spurts and several bit players score, but the movie doesn't have enough momentum to carry it through the dead spots. Read more

Gary Thompson, Philadelphia Inquirer: I'm going to say, at the risk of doing time in the blurbitentiary, that The Hangover is the Citizen Kane of bachelor party movies. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Phillips, with a script credited to Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (and with loads of loose-limbed interpretations from the cast), captures the amity among a group of grown men set loose without spouses, girlfriends, or sobriety to hinder them. (Or help.) Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Unlike most so-called "comedies," this one can claim the virtue of being reasonably funny. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Now this is what I'm talkin' about. The Hangover is a funny movie, flat out, all the way through. Its setup is funny. Every situation is funny Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: The Hangover ain't art, but Phillips has shaped the hardcore hilarity into the summer party movie of all our twisted dreams. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The funniest movie so far this year. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: This kind of 'one crazy night' tale relies on drum-tight structure to work. Without it, The Hangover sputters to a sentimental halt. Read more

Rob Nelson, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The Hangover, like the condition for which it's named, has some spirited moments, but more often it stumbles and slurs, regurgitating earlier pleasures and praying for the fog to lift. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The payoff to the mysteries isn't nearly as interesting as the setup, and the ending of the movie is disappointingly squishy. But while it's riding a hot streak, The Hangover is a rush. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Outrageousness proves hard to sustain, and after a stomach-lurchingly quick start, The Hangover slows down and, by the third act, fizzes out like Alka-Seltzer in a highball glass. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: A strong cast, a quirky script with some unexpected twists and a steady hand from the director's chair make this a desert ride on the wild side a worthy road trip. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: This is a bromance so primitive it's practically Bro-Magnon. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, Time Out: You'll laugh three or four times and probably won't remember why. Read more

Tom Huddlestone, Time Out: An intriguing, time-hopping set-up is wasted on obnoxious characters, celebrity cameos and crass attempts at humour. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Though the film falters toward the end, The Hangover is a side-splitting adventure you'll still be laughing about the morning after. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: The Hangover is surprisingly clever as well as R-rated rowdy. Read more

Jim Ridley, Village Voice: An unusually palatable entry in a rancid genre. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Even though Apatow has no fingerprints over this movie, The Hangover follows in the same surprise-me tradition: It takes us to the dumb side but comes back with something unexpectedly affecting. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: A comedy that stays weird and wild for the first two-thirds, only to disappoint in the final act. Read more