Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on July 2010

This is one of those lewd, crude and rude frat-boy comedies that I never expected to like. Three guys (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis) wake up with pounding headaches in a wrecked $4,200/night Las Vegas hotel suite after a bachelor party of epic proportions; they’re unable to remember anything they did the night before. Not an uncommon situation, I would imagine, but the fun is in their trying to reconstruct what the hell happened through various clues: a tiger belonging to Mike Tyson in the bathroom; a wedding ring one of them is wearing; a baby in the closet; teeth missing; ditto the groom (Justin Bartha). And the more they figure out, the worse it gets. They set out to find the groom (valet parking brings them a police cruiser) in the hope of getting him back to LA in time for his wedding. It’s an agreeably unambitious movie, unforced but painstakingly contrived. It’s even well-written for this sort of thing, making the characters more than caricatures. And it’s got heart. Directed by Todd Phillips (Old School), this unrepentantly irresponsible, unapologetically R-rated romp is the summer party movie of your dreams. Stay for the closing credits.