THE HANGOVER
Headline: ** Debauchery as Comedy **
Title: THE HANGOVER
Quality: * * * Acceptability: -4
SUBTITLES: None
WARNING CODES:
Language: LLL
Violence: VV
Sex: SSS
Nudity: NNN
RATING: R
RELEASE: June 5, 2009
TIME: 100 minutes
STARRING: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham, and Ken Jeong
DIRECTOR: Todd Phillips
PRODUCERS: Daniel Goldberg and Todd Phillips
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Chris Bender, Scott Budnick, William Fay, J.C. Spink, and Thomas Tull
WRITERS: Jon Lucas and Scot Moore
BASED ON THE NOVEL/PLAY BY: N/A
DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. Pictures/TimeWarner
CONTENT: (PaPaPa, HoHo, LLL, VV, SSS, NNN, MMM) Very strong pagan, hedonistic worldview with major villain a homosexual; 115 obscenities and 23 profanities, two instances of characters giving the "finger" including by a young boy; strong violence includes man beats other men with tire iron, photo of man pulling own tooth out, car wreck, man cuts himself as part of blood oath, police officers delight in getting school age children to use taser on three adult characters rendering the adults unconscious; photos of oral sex with genitalia shown, much discussion of sex, and images of characters pretending to engage in sexual acts with people and an animal, and man "humorously" takes infant's hand pretending the infant is pleasuring himself; full frontal male nudity by two characters, rear male nudity by multiple characters, real female nudity, upper female nudity, man wears only an athletic supporter, women in very skimpy bikinis, men in underwear, man shown twice urinating; alcohol drinking and extreme drunkenness; references to the drug Ecstasy and a date rape drug; and, lying, deceit, blackmail, vandalism, and stealing.
GENRE: Comedy
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older teenagers and adults
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Sumner Redstone, Chairman/CEO, Viacom
Brad Grey, Chairman/CEO, Paramount Pictures
5555 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038-3197
Phone: (323) 956-5000
Website: www.paramount.com
SUMMARY: THE HANGOVER is the story of four male friends who go to Las Vegas to celebrate Doug's bachelor party, only to wake up and not remember what happened the night before. Though well made, this comedy features abundant foul language, extreme nudity and extremely offensive sexual references.
IN BRIEF:
THE HANGOVER is the story of four male friends who go to Las Vegas to celebrate a bachelor party, only to wake up and not remember what happened the night before. Phil, Stu, Alan, and Doug begin their night in Vegas very calmly. However, Phil, Stu and Alan wake up to discover they've passed out, an infant is abandoned in their room, a live tiger is in their room, they are in various states of undress, and the groom-to-be Doug is missing. To find their friend, they begin to retrace their steps of the night before. This includes a stolen police car, angering a wealthy man who sends thugs after them and what appears to be a kidnapping of Doug.
THE HANGOVER is well made, but very raunchy. There are crude sexual references, much nudity, tons of foul language, and a worldview that revels in hedonistic behavior. Characters lie to their girlfriends, one marries a stripper, a classic car is trashed, and there is general debauchery. Such excessive content is a poor excuse for good character comedy. Media-wise moviegoers, including adult viewers, can find lots better things to do with their time.
NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide Magazine. For more information from a Christian perspective, order the latest Movieguide Magazine by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at www.movieguide.org. Movieguide is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood by informing parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing media executives and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best at the box office year in and year out. Movieguide now offers an online subscription to its magazine version, atwww.movieguide.org. The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative articles and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise consumers.
