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lindsay: So, we both saw The Hangover.
lindsay: What did you think?
gabe: i liked it, it was funny
gabe: i don’t think that it was the runaway supercomedy
lindsay: Yeah, me too.
lindsay: Yeah
gabe: that everyone was hoping
gabe: but it had lots of laughs
lindsay: It wasn’t the second coming of Talladega Nights or anything
gabe: haha
lindsay: but I enjoyed it
gabe: Talladega Nights, the one true comedy
lindsay: Galifianakis was amazing, of course.
gabe: well he made the movie
lindsay: Everything promised about him in this movie came true
gabe: i don’t feel like i ever need to see this movie again
lindsay: The entire Rain Man segment was pure joy.
gabe: but i would watch his Wolf Pack speech again
gabe: and again
lindsay: I want to see the extras and deleted scenes!
gabe: i think his Wolf Pack speech was the best part of the movie
lindsay: I think the Rain Man scene was the best part of the movie.
lindsay: I wish it was almost Halloween, because I want to be him in that movie
lindsay: I bet you can get that shirt at any urban outfitters.
gabe: i was really worried at the beginning
gabe: when Jeffrey Tambor made that joke
gabe: about how whatever happens in vegas stays in vegas
gabe: except herpes
gabe: i was like UH OH
lindsay: yeah
lindsay: I think my grandma made that joke once
gabe: Zach was on the Best Show on WFMU a few months ago
gabe: and told a story about being on a movie set
gabe: and Jeffrey Tambor being really angry and yelling at everyon
gabe: “WHERE IS MY KINDLE?
gabe: “HAS ANYONE SEEN MY KINDLE?”
gabe: so that’s just a little behind-the-scenes gossip for you
gabe: total Kindle Diva
gabe: we should probably talk about the sexism and racism in the movie
lindsay: Okay
lindsay: I decided I’m really bored of the kind of sexism, if that’s what it is, in these buddy movies
lindsay: the women are boring nags whose entire purpose is to keep the men from having fun.
lindsay: yawn
gabe: well, that was what was weird about it
gabe: in both instances
gabe: the sexism instance
gabe: and the racism instance
gabe: it was just boring, and almost hacky
gabe: as if they finished putting together a funny movie and were like
gabe: “oh wait, we need to appeal to assholes more”
gabe: lazy
lindsay: I’m kind of sick of that same asian guy doing that same fake asian guy characture in every comedy.
gabe: his name is Ken Jeong
gabe: show some respect
lindsay: I know his name
lindsay: he really took it to the next level this time with the full frontal
gabe: but yes
lindsay: like they realized they needed something new
gabe: between this and his hate crime scene in The Goods
gabe: he’s really going for it
gabe: I’m surprised his roles in both of those movies were not played by MIckey Rooney
lindsay: haha, I thought of mickey rooney too
lindsay: I thought this movie was a little different in that the second half was much funnier than the first
gabe: well, that has a lot to do with the fact that we saw the whole first half already
gabe: in the 15,000 trailers
lindsay: I actually refused to watch the latest red band trailer
lindsay: just to keep things fresh!
gabe: one thing that made this movie good or even just watchable for me
gabe: is that i really hate “impossible task” movies
gabe: like Planes Trains and Automobiles, for example
gabe: movies where people are thwarted at every turn
gabe: and mistaken identities
gabe: and all of that shit just really annoys me
gabe: it’s such cheap and frustrating tension
gabe: but in this case it was REVERSED! they turned that whole thing ON ITS HEAD.
lindsay: I was worried that we would never find out what happened.
lindsay: that they’d just be like “Oh well!”
gabe: well that’s what i mean
lindsay: the picture thing was pretty cool
gabe: you always know that they’re going to find out or get to their destination or fall in love or whatever
gabe: but the pressure was off with this movie, i was allowed to just LAFF
gabe: the picture thing was good, although poor Carrot Top
lindsay: hahaha
gabe: i kind of thought Carrot Top was finally going to start getting some recognition
gabe: a resurgence
gabe: but no
gabe: still just the punchline
gabe: Carrot Top is the equivalent of an “ugly old lady” giving a blow job in an elevator
lindsay: Since this movie ended up being so huge, I wonder if any groups are going to protest the drunk driving and the child safety seat issues
lindsay: and leaving the baby in the car
gabe: i think that the baby in the car was pretty obviously supposed to be a commentary on how terrible these dudes were
gabe: but the drunk driving was mostly just gross
lindsay: obviously, I don’t mean that those groups would have senses of humor
gabe: that is very dangerous and awful!
gabe: i think there were definitely some things about the movie’s “message” that were not very cool, and that are not defensible by just saying “it’s a comedy”
gabe: for example, the drunk driving, and also the aforementioned sexism/racism
gabe: also Bradley Cooper stealing money from children and hating his students
gabe: was just kind of 
lindsay: I kind of wish they had made this exact movie but with an all female cast
gabe: Bradley Cooper in general: kind of an unrepentant dick that I never liked
lindsay: haha, the friend I saw the movie with hates him too
lindsay: I like him!
lindsay: I think guys hate him and girls like him
lindsay: like Megan Fox
lindsay: or someone
gabe: megan fox?
lindsay: so I really really tried to take video of the zach bj photos
gabe: no one LIKES megan fox
lindsay: but there was a man with infrared binoculars pointed directly at me
lindsay: he was onto me
lindsay: and I already knew that michel gondry was almost arrested this weekend for being with people who took an iphone photo
lindsay: so I didn’t go for it.
lindsay: I’m sorry
gabe: thank you “michel gondry arrested?” google alert
lindsay: “michel gondry bj pictures” google alert.
gabe: as we were leaving the theater
gabe: a guy in his early 20s in front of me
gabe: said that his bachelor party “is going to be a total shit show. There are going to be strippers. There are going to be drugs.”
gabe: and then he just kept repeating it?
gabe: over and over?
gabe: unfortunately, i think that is the legacy of this movie
gabe: making assholes think their boring ideas are cool and funny
lindsay: oh no!
lindsay: but yeah
gabe: but the rest of us will always have Zach
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Not at the table, Carlos.
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This comment is crying out for a ??? button.
American Patriot?
I think he’s moved on from Faux-Colbert (Fauxbert?) to now biting ol’ Da Cake Eatur’s style.
word?
YES! new cake-eatur type commenter. Once again I will be up-voting until everyone gets the joke and starts up-voting.
Taaylorr.?: Brought to you by the creators of an American Patriot and Da Cake Eatur.
Correct Gabe. Nobody likes Megan Fox. They think she’s hot, but she’s also kind of awful.
1. i just figured megan fox out a couple weeks ago, and now everything about her makes sense. she’s basically the hot, popular chick from high school who has now made it into the real world and discovered that looks will only get you so far. so now she desperately tries to project a personality, saying stuff like, “i look like a tranny!” and “who gives hand jobs after 7th grade?” and “?I don?t want to have to be like a Scarlett Johansson ? who I have nothing against ? but I don?t want to have to go on talk shows and pull out every single SAT word I?ve ever learned to prove, like, ?Take me seriously, I am intelligent, I can speak.? I don?t want? to do that.” right, you have NOTHING AGAINST HER. anyway, megan fox is the definition of a plastic. she’s trying to remain on top of the social heap by being a passive-aggressive bitch because she has nothing else to offer but her (admittedly spectacular) looks.
2. i have not yet seen this movie, but the ubiquitous trailers have confirmed two suspicious and/or firmed up and matured some inchoate, nebulous inklings.
a.) ed helms is so much more versatile and likable and different than his character of andy bernard on the office.
b.) bradley cooper is so much more slimy and creepy and fake and unlikable than, like, every character he’s ever played. he seems even worse than his character in wedding crashers. this is an incredible turn of events for those who so enjoyed him in alias (and, jesus christ i’m lame, jack and bobby).
I couldn’t deal with justin bartha being in this movie. I kept picturing him in gigli, going full retard in ben affleck’s living room, yelling about the baywatch.
I think that’s all he’ll ever be to me. After that performance, he deserves to sail into the west with the elves.
Word. The first time I saw him in the movie, I thought for a split second that he was Matt Besser and I was thrilled that Besser was being delivered to a mass audience. I was very sad to realize it wasn’t him. Besser is worth a million Barthas, I tells ya!
I did not enjoy this movie. After the “except herpes” bit and the ensuing laughter from the brotastic audience, it was going to take a lot to sway my perception. I did appreciate Galifianakis and his blublockers though.
“we’re three best friends that anybody could have, the three best friends that anyone could have. and we’ll never ever ever ever leave each other. ”
gold.
how is this building for beepers? not getting a good recept…
What a mixed bag. Many moments were hilarious and I often found myself having a great time, but other moments were just painfully unfunny. What made it worse was sitting in an audience full of morons who would literally howl and clap at the scenes with Mike Tyson and/or the tiger, which they recognized from the trailer. That kind of crowd makes it really hard to just ignore the lame parts.
Zach was a star, obviously. I felt like it was basically the Zach Galifianakis Show, broken up with many interludes of Everyone Else Oh Well. Not always, but mostly. This created a really uneven comedic tone throughout and left me very confused as to what my overall impression should be.
Boo, Gabe and Lindsay, for turning the VMC into Politicallycorrectgum. The movie was great!
I do, however, agree with your point about “impossible task” movies. This movie had a rather refreshingly easy resolution. SPOILER ALERT: “Oh, we just left him on the roof, guys. Duh! Let’s go get him so he can get married”.
The dirty wedding band at the end might have been a bit lazy, but Old School was so long ago that you have to let it pass.
And, of course, Zach G. stole the show.
Yeah, it’s so PC to be bored by the gratuitous sexism and racism in bro-comedies. LOL. Irony. You are white and a dude, I assume?
Goddamn this site makes me hate being a white male.
the only really funny part was the photos during the end credits. otherwise, reaaaaaaally overrated. fell asleep for about 20 minutes and didn’t miss anything. meh.
So wait, this shit is sexist because one chick was a bitch in it? Okay, yeah, that’s a fucking stereotype (regardless of the fact that SHRILL ASS WOMEN LIKE THAT totally exist!), but it doesn’t make it goddamned sexism. That single character didn’t set the female sex back 200 years nor did it fuckin try to.
It’s called a cliche, ya’ll. COMEDIES ARE RIPE WITH THE FUCKERS. This whole movie was a series of cliches. That’s why it’s funny. Because it’s EDGY COMEDY that’s just fuckin comfortable enough cause you’ve seen it before 500 other times in other movies.
Except for Zach. That son of a bitch FUCKIN KILLLLLLLLLED it in every scene that came his way. They could just edit that shit down to him, and I’d pay to see it again. Who wants to be in my WOLF pack?? LOL
You know what, for the very first time ever and also probably the last, I agree with you. Wanna be in my wolf pack? You will make two. Two wolves total.
To be fair, whoever he is seems to be channeling his absurd anger in an at least more tolerable way. I mean, he’s lost some of his ridiculousness, but at least he’s not as offensive as he was during the early days.
Although, I think he’s waiting for us to all turn around and jump on board which is so not going to happen, but he is saying things now which are maybe a quarter-agreeable.
We’re a wolf pack of four, wandering the desert, searching for strippers and cocaine.
ps. I lots of loved “Paging Dr. Faggot”. Not gonna lie.
And then there were three…
I too, would like to join your wolf pack. Only this once, because just like the President said, we need to find common ground and not focus on what pushes us apart. YES WE CAN!
Uh, you can’t actually defend something on the grounds that it’s both a) edgy and b) ripe [sic] with cliché. Pick one and go with it, but they can’t both be true by definition.
“HEY!!! There are Skittles in there! “, brought me to tears.
It’s not illegal. It’s frowned upon; like masturbating in an airplane…Thanks a lot, Bin Laden!
I thought it was pretty funny. Maybe it was the crowd I was with, but I laughed from pretty much the beginning to the end. That’s all I ask for in a comedy. I mean, yeah, some of the jokes were easy, but when it was on it was on. Maybe I just enjoyed seeing a movie that made me actually laugh out loud as opposed to recent comedies which have all been a “Oh, that’s funny,” then smile or “Oh that’s pretty witty” then kinda laugh a bit. This movie was stupid, but at least it did stupid really well.
Also, I appreciated a comedy that felt tightly plotted and written as opposed to having set pieces for improv. Not that I don’t like that, but I’m kinda burnt out on it.
uhhh…what? this movie was horribly written. the plot twists were amusingly unrealistic (and i don’t mean that in a good way). this was all about the actors.
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God, tell me about it. It is so pretentious to prefer the Rain Man part over the Wolf Pack part.
They agreed about everything, moron.
Team Lindsay
I’m a girl and I didn’t find this movie to be sexist at all. It wasn’t saying, “this is how you should act, this is okay” these men were obviously ridiculous.
I am sick of that asian guy doing the same character in every movie, but I still thought it was funny.
I thought this movie was hysterical. I’m bringing a friend to see it tonight. Maybe I’ll wear my wolf sweatshirt.
My favorite part was when they were explaining that Zach threw the asian gangster into his trunk because he said that “he was his little lucky charm.”
That might have been the most racist part. I don’t know. I’m not a racentist. But nothing in that movie rang more true with my own drunken experiences than that scene. Solely because based on one sentence of faulty logic, they went to an extreme that is so far gone it barely had a tenuous connection to the original thought.
I like snorkels too
The kinds of jokes and gags were totally unoriginal, mainly stupid, and completely tired and It could have been done so much better in terms of everything EXCEPT THE CAST. All three of them made what could have been like the shittiest comedy ever, into something really funny. Obviously Zach/Allan was beyond the best part of this movie, but I actually really like Bradly Cooper and Ed Helms is fucking greatttt.
They’re portrayals/natural comedic talents carried this entire movie. God I love Zach Galifianakis, sometimes I was laughing just looking at him anticipating what he was going to say or do.
nobody ponted out that todd phillips is obviously a gabe fan. “not for her, she’s The Worst.”
oh man I swear I thought the exact same thing when I heard that line!
i lost it when zach started mimicing brad in the car when ed was getting his ring back from ol girl.
Zach Galifianakis imitating Bradley Cooper (but without all the bad language!) was brilliant. He just wants to be cool like Phil and have awesome hair, a “Classic Phil” look if you will.
Even if it wasn’t “sexist”, it was totally contrived. The “on a short leash” guy who needs to learn to live and loosen up. And they throw in that she cheated on him to make it somehow not totally sexist. And the other characters weren’t characters so much as “character types”.
Seems like the Will Ferrel camp is getting more fratty and formulaic. and the Apatow group is getting fresher and better. The line to be drawn is that any comedy with Paul Rudd in it is generally pretty smart and funny and fresh. Or Jason Segal. If the “Hangover” team made “I love you, man”, it would have been wall-to-wall gay jokes, and Rashida Jones’ character would’ve been terrible. And they would’ve been up against some terrible yuppie brother-in-law or something. Yawn.
What I’m getting at is that this movie was funny, but i hate what it stands for: formula.
You probably get this a lot, but. Is.. is this the real Caesars Palace?
i found myself wondering if i would’ve LOLed if it had been anyone else than Zach G. on the screen.
also:
“hi, carrot”.
Don’t these stereotypes exist in movies in general just because they’re sort of a storytelling shorthand? I mean, I’m sure that there were many nuanced levels and motivations of the personality of the fiancee who slept with a bartender on a Carnival cruise line. An exploration of her childhood daddy issues and lifelong oppression by the patriarchy would have certainly satisfied all womynkind and fairly represented real life. That movie would suck as a comedy. And that choice would have been wasting a lot of time on a minor character whose only function in the story was to be horrible so that Ed Helms’s main character would have reason to do the things that he did, and that the audience cared about watching.
Thus concludes Talking-Out-Of-My-Ass Film Studies for today. Join me tomorrow when I will explore why anyone would name a sled Rosebud.
Can we please talk about the wedding singer in this movie. I was in tears when he mimed the joint to his mouth during his rendition of Fame. And when he was grinding the old lady during Candy Shop and then just flips off the old dude as he walks away. The best part is that his absurdity is just barely acknowledged by Tambor.
he’s in all of todd phillips movies now. he’s like an actual wedding singer or something called The Dan Band. He was the best part of Old School
yeah, The Dan Band is brilliant. check them out on youtube. they play in L A pretty much every two weeks, and the show is really, really funny.
I agree that it was sexist but not because of anything anyone specificially did, it’s just part of that genre of “dudes are immature and wiiiild and chicks want to hold them down and make them responsible and married and shit”. You know, that whole appealing-to-douches-in-their-early-20s thing.
I want to see some fun, silly slutty girl troupe get into crazy hijinx. It would be like Josie and The Pussycats but instead of all of them, just a bunch of Miris from Zach and Miri with different looks, and they’d tour the country and have groupie dudes and one would have a crazy exboyfriend who they would have to evade and also evade some cops too, and they’d learn the meaning of friendship (and also bjs).
Dear hollywood: irresponsible girls buddy movie, please!
more movies about girls learning the value of bj’s please!
(i am one of those douchebags-in-their-early-20s. Sorry.)
It was called The Sweetest Thing and it’s not really as great as it sounds.
I am SO all over that.
I also like how everybody was so concerned with the asian guy and the ball-breaking woman that nobody noticed when mike tyson was all like, “it’s okay you stole my tiger, we all do stupid shit when we’re fucked up.” stupid shit like beat and rape robin givens, I believe he’s implying
I really liked this movie, laughed through the entire thing, but for some reason that final bj-in-the elevator photo made me ridiculously sad. Can’t explain it, but there it is.
Ack! Sorry, did not mean to post as a reply…
I like how Doug’s fiance was totally reasonable and awesome. And so was the stripper. It wasn’t sexist so much as Ed Helm’s girlfriend was a huge bitch.
hit the nail on the head
The sexism is what’s keeping me from totally loving this movie. It was completely enjoyable to watch, particularly in a theater with a sold out crowd, but it would have been better without the sexism and racism.
If the film had done what a film like Knocked Up did, which was develop complex, female characters who were as likable and humorous as they were bitchy, then it wouldn’t have been so bad. Instead, the 3 main female characters are either flat (like the bride), unrealistically naggy (Ed Helm’s ladyfriend) or just a boring, ditzy plot device (Heather Graham). I recognize that it’s a little hard to compare the two films since The Hangover’s story doesn’t allow for female leads, and I’m not saying every film needs female leads like in Knocked Up. But even I Love You, Man had likable female characters with limited screen time aside from Rashida Jones. I’m just saying a buddy film like this CAN be made without going for the obvious jokes and sexist character portrayals.
But no yeah. I really liked it. <3 Zach ))<>((
2 things:
1) i don’t think the hangover committed grievous sexism errors. i think everyone knows they constructed ridiculous over-the-top male and female characters for the sake of laughs.
2) if you think knocked up had complex female characters, that is a ri-ot.
It’s true that the female characters were lazily written and over-the-top, but that doesn’t mean that using those easy, boring archetypes isn’t sexist. That’s like saying it’s not racist for a white actor to do blackface (RDJ notwithstanding) because that’s a tried-and-true archetype of the theater (that’s not really the same but using hyperboles in non-analogous relationships is just over-the-top internetting so that’s okay).
And I thought Knocked Up at least attempted three-dimensional female characters, but it failed in almost every scene… because women don’t know who Doc Brown is?! Fuck you, Knocked Up.
The Wolf Pack speech was my favorite part too!
Man, if you’re not totally on board with this movie after Zach whips out a knife and cuts open his own hand to become “Blood Brothers” with the group after the Wolf Pack speech, I just don’t know what to do with you.
You win my friend. You win this discussion.
the song that ed helms sang in the hotel room was the best. “tiger snooze.”
I really liked this movie, laughed through the entire thing, but for some reason that final bj-in-the elevator photo made me ridiculously sad. Can’t explain it, but there it is.
Asian female here. Not offended in the slightest. The female characters were MINOR characters. The bride seemed like an intelligent, responsible woman… b-b-but Rachael Harris is a bitch in it! It MUST be sexist! Really? And yeah, the Asian Guy with Bad Engrish schtick has gotten incredibly tiresome, but I got over it in a little under a minute. Perhaps it’s sad how unaffected I was by the stereotype. Or perhaps it’s fucking movie. No one should have walked into this movie expecting it to be PC. The previews had Galafianakis slamming a baby in the face with a cop car door. Yes, the guys drunk-drove to Tyson’s house…to steal a live tiger. You know what else? The gopher in Caddyshack wasn’t real.
Asian female here. Not offended in the slightest. The female characters were MINOR characters. The bride seemed like an intelligent, responsible woman… b-b-but Rachael Harris is a bitch in it! It MUST be sexist! Really? And yeah, the Asian Guy with Bad Engrish schtick has gotten incredibly tiresome, but I got over it in a little under a minute. Perhaps it’s sad how unaffected I was by the stereotype. Or perhaps it’s fucking movie. No one should have walked into this movie expecting it to be PC. The previews had Galafianakis slamming a baby in the face with a cop car door. Yes, the guys drunk-drove to Tyson’s house…to steal a live tiger. You know what else? The gopher in Caddyshack wasn’t real.
Not following you on the drunk driving bit, i didn’t feel that it was a huge deal. I mean they also stole a tiger, which i don’t think to be a safe decision and i am deeply offended by this casual tiger handling.
I thought all the characters had some interesting depth to them, the douchey teacher never won the audience over he was just a dick, Ed Helms wasn’t some pathetic goof ball, and Zach Galifianakis was zach Galifianakis. the asian bit was tiresome but otherwise i thought it was quite good.
While I was completely aware of the contrived and stupid nature of the jokes, I laughed throughout much of the movie. However, as soon as Ken Jeong walked on screen with clothes on, all funny was drained. His role in the movie just seemed to drag, and I found myself wondering how much time I could waste in the lobby until he got off the screen. He was over the top in a way that was not so much racist as just dumb. Saying “bitches” as a small effeminate but powerful man stopped being funny in 2001. Thanks a lot Bin Laden.
Awww man. I gotta tell you, I feel let down. Had its moments, yes, the wolf pack thing which was kind of so funny you didn’t want to laugh cus you might miss something…and then yeahhhh. With the rest. Mike Tyson saying ‘we all do fucked up things when we’re fucked up’ is one thousand percent not ok as we all know he’s beaten women, and then the whole male crew has a laugh about it – aren’t – I mean fucking seriously we can’t make better jokes than this? Will Ferrell running down the street naked having no idea what’s going on and his wife (still shrewy perhaps but a bit more developed) is all “whassup, Hon?” is funny. Leaving your friend on the roof in Vegas and pulling out your own tooth and ahhhh nevermind. Easy jokes, cheap action (old woman bj), sadly disappointing, boys will be boys and girls are menacing, cheating shrews or loose, fun, all smiles no questions strippers and blah. How much money was paid to make this film, how much I want back, and how much those involved will make just makes me kinda…wish I’d never seen it.
I really loved the Ed Helms song?
i didn’t know everyone who read videogum was either elaine showalter or (sexist man).
rgardless, my BIGGEST problem was that when the police were getting the mattress off the roof, wouldn’t they have woken up the sleeping man? and wouldnt they have taken him down to the lobby and called the person in whose name the room was under?
and dont immediately say that this was the least of the plot’s problems, because it was relatively sound other than this.
I get the feeling that Todd Phillips is smarter than the douche audience he caters to, but only a little bit smarter. He’s like the guy in the frat house that has Wes Anderson movies in his DVD rack, or something.
It was funny where Talledega was not. I laughed at things I shouldn’t have.
As an Asian guy who grew up in the MidWest, I am affected by the Asian stereotypes by whites and Jews. I was made fun of in HS and Freshmen year of college because of stereotypes – small penis, nerdy, weak, etc. I never did a thing to deserve all those stereotype. Just because I am Asian and studious, fucking people need to make fun of me.
I fucking hate Kike in Hollywood for stereotyping Asians guy. I wish another Cho Seung would shoot up Hollywood or movies that stereotypes Asians. How come I never see anything positive about Asian guy in Hollywood. Ain’t I American too?
I don’t know why Asian women and men would go see shit like these movies.
Pump the brakes.
I’ve never seen that Asian guy in a movie before. I must not get out that often. But he was more of a gay stereotype than an Asian stereotype, right? The purse, the kissing Zach Galifianakis in the photo collection at the end, the effeminate way he acted. I don’t know the man at all, but maybe that’s just the way he talks? I really don’t know. And as a response to FedUpAsianguy: I think the body guards of the little guy were also Asian. We just didn’t notice because they didn’t have an accent and weren’t tiny. So I can understand why you didn’t notice. And that “Jews control the media” thing is probably more offensive than an over-the-top character in an obviously not-to-be-taken-seriously comedy.