"Pepper" - Butthole Surfers
"Joker and the Thief" - Wolfmother
"In the Air Tonight" - Phil Collins
I can't say I was really a fan of any of the above songs when they first came out, but the way they were combined and edited for The Hangover movie trailer (which ironically didn't make me want to watch the movie at all) forced me to download them all as soon as I could figure out their names. Now, how's about a definition from Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary before I get to my review?
"idiot savant
Function: noun
Etymology: French, literally, learned idiot
Date: 1927
1: a person affected with a mental disability (as autism or mental retardation) who exhibits exceptional skill or brilliance in some limited field (as mathematics or music) —called also savant
2: a person who is highly knowledgeable about one subject but knows little about anything else"
The Hangover (two stars total) When my friend asked me if I wanted to watch this with him about a week before it came out because "it got a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, I replied that all movies get perfect ratings their release dates. It did eventually drop to 81%, and I asked if he would rather see Drag Me To Hell because it got a 93%, but he declined because he wanted to watch a comedy. (Technically, I think Drag Me To Hell counts as another one of director Sam Raimi's horror-comedies, like Army of Darkness, but that's neither here not there.) We watched The Hangover. And after the end credits had rolled, my friend turned to me and said "the credits were better than the movie." And that's one of the best movie reviews ever. Seriously, there's not much more detail I can add that will further convince people who already want to watch to see it anyway or discourage people who are on the fence about it. All the best parts are in the trailer, including the best songs from the movie (listed above for your downloading pleasure). So let's go back to the Webster's definition I copied above. The entire movie hangs on your regard or disregard for an idiot savant character (who does well to pay his respect to Rain Man before putting his own spin on him). None of the other characters are developed as well as the idiot savant. None of the other characters directly affect the plot as much as the idiot savant. In fact, his character represents the entire movie. Think about it - some people are uncomfortable around this movie's content just as some people are uncomfortable around idiot savants. I was one of those people that wrote this movie off as another in the current trend of raunchy buddy comedies and I was right. But for all that is "cookie cutter" about the characters, I have to admit that there is so much that is REAL about them also. This movie is aptly called The Hangover because that's all it's about - the aftermath. The good, the bad and the ugly of Las Vegas is all here, but the good doesn't come till the end credits, and everything before that is the bad and the ugly - kind of like real life. If you're the kind of person that can laugh at real life, you may consider this a comedy. Otherwise, go make friends with an idiot savant while trying to enjoy yourself in Vegas and you can say you LIVED the movie.
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