Todd Phillips guided Joaquin Phoenix to Oscar success with the anti-comic, anti-hero DC sideline project JOKER, but his roots were in comedy – and this 2008 pre-wedding affair is one of the greatest comedies in the modern era.
A bachelor party in Las Vegas has gone south – and with hours to go before the ceremony the groom, Doug (Justin Bartha) has been mislaid. His friends and immediate family, Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and the bride’s brother, Alan (Zach Galifianakis) are a little out of it and have to retrace their steps to find out where he is, all the while dealing with a tiger in their hotel room and a baby they didn’t know existed…
What could have turned into yet another brusque and sex-minded American comedy a la AMERICAN PIE or any number of Adam Sandler films is elevated by one of the smartest written and finely structured comedy scripts of recent years, co-written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, whose use of flashback helps to raise the film into a different plane. Cooper had already appeared in another wedding-themed comedy, WEDDING CRASHERS, as Rachel McAdams’ sleazy fiancé , but here he takes centre stage as the more considerate and sensitive Phil, who attempts to be the glue that holds what Alan describes as his ‘Wolfpack’
Throw in a cameo by Mike Tyson, Stu’s abusive partner Melissa (Rachael Harris) – and the excellent Ken Jeong as Vegas gangster Mr. Chow – and you have the makings of a great comedic experience, which lasts all the way through the montage-laden end credits (don’t leave when they start – it is equally funny!)