THE HANGOVER **½

Todd Phillips directed this comedy which stars: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham, and Justin Bartha. Rated R for pervasive language, sexual content including nudity, and some drug material. Running time is one hour and forty minutes.

Two days before his wedding, a groom (Bartha) and his three buddies (Cooper, Helms and Galifianakis) drive to Vegas for a blow-out night they'll never forget. But when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning with pounding headaches, they can't remember a thing, including the fact one of them got married during the night (to Graham). Their posh hotel suite is beyond trashed and the groom is nowhere to be found. With no clue to what happened and little time to spare, the trio must attempt to retrace their bad decisions from the night before in order to figure out where things went wrong and hopefully get back to L.A. with the groom in time for the wedding.

This certainly isn't the funniest thing I've ever seen but it is well plotted and acted. There's a lot more going on than in the usual simplistic film that passes for comedy these days. By the end, all has been explained and even makes sense, although I never did understand where the chicken came from (there's also an unexplained tiger and baby when they first wake up). The pace borders on frantic although it does make the time pass quickly. I'm guessing if you watch this with a large audience (I didn't) you'll find it even funner than I did. The only real reason for watching it in a theatre is to be with a lot of other people. If your living room holds a hundred or so, you can safely wait for the DVD.