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| The Hangover (2009 film) | |
|---|---|
| Name | The Hangover |
| Director | Todd Phillips |
| Producer | Daniel Goldberg, Jeremy Kramer, Todd Phillips, Chris Bender |
| Writer | Jon Lucas, Scott Moore |
| Starring | Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham, Ken Jeong |
| Music | Christophe Beck |
| Cinematography | Lawrence Sher |
| Editing | Debra Neil-Fisher |
| Studio | Legendary Pictures, Relativity Media, Rogue, Green Hat Films, Apatow Productions |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. |
| Released | 2009 |
| Runtime | 100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35 million |
| Gross | $467 million |
The Hangover (2009 film) is an American comedy film directed by Todd Phillips from a screenplay by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. The film stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, and Justin Bartha as friends who lose the groom during a bachelor party in Las Vegas, Nevada, leading to a chaotic search involving a missing tooth, a tiger, and a baby. Its blend of improvisational performance, dark humor, and ensemble chemistry launched a commercially successful franchise and influenced 21st-century mainstream comedy.
In a single sentence: four men travel to Las Vegas Strip for a bachelor party, wake up with no memory after a blackout, and must piece together events to find the missing groom. The narrative follows Phil Wenneck, Stu Price, Alan Garner, and Doug Billings as they interrogate a sequence of characters and locations including a luxury suite at Caesars Palace, a wedding chapel, and the Clark County medical system. Through encounters with a tiger owned by Mike Tyson, a kidnapped baby, an Asian gangster, and a stolen police car, the group reconstructs a timeline that intersects with a casino heist-esque theft, a ruined tooth linked to Stu Price's dentist, and a reconciliation at McCarran International Airport. The plot culminates with the revelation of the groom's whereabouts and a resolution that reconfigures friendships and obligations.
Principal casting features Bradley Cooper as Phil, Ed Helms as Stu, Zach Galifianakis as Alan, and Justin Bartha as Doug. Supporting roles include Heather Graham as Jade, Ken Jeong as Leslie Chow, and Mike Tyson as himself. Additional credited performers include Jeffrey Tambor, Rachael Harris, Bryan Callen, Mike Epps, and Sasha Barrese. Uncredited cameo appearances and bit parts involve figures connected to Hollywood production networks and the Las Vegas entertainment circuit.
Development began when filmmakers associated with Apatow Productions and producers from Legendary Pictures and Relativity Media greenlit a comedy project directed by Todd Phillips. Casting drew established film and television actors from projects linked to Silver Linings Playbook, The Office (American TV series), and Saturday Night Live. Principal photography was conducted on location in Las Vegas Strip hotels and studios, supervised by cinematographer Lawrence Sher with editorial work by Debra Neil-Fisher. The production navigated permits at venues including Caesars Palace and coordinated with entertainers such as Mike Tyson, while contending with practical logistics of animal handling, child performance laws, and late-night shooting schedules common to feature-sized comedies.
Warner Bros. distributed the film domestically after premiere screenings and festival buzz generated by associate producers and marketing teams tied to Warner Bros. Pictures release strategies. Opening weekend performance displaced several contemporaneous releases across multiplexes and drove international expansion to markets overseen by distributor partners in Europe and Asia. With a production budget estimated at $35 million, the film grossed approximately $467 million worldwide, outperforming contemporaneous comedies and securing one of the highest returns on investment for a live-action comedy of its release year.
Critical response ranged from praise for the ensemble chemistry of Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis to criticism of the film's reliance on shock humor and perceived ethical boundaries. Reviewers compared tonal elements to earlier R-rated comedies produced by Apatow Productions and to raunchy entries in the comedy canon associated with New Line Cinema and Universal Pictures releases. The film received industry recognition including nominations and awards from organizations such as the Golden Globe Awards and various critics' circles, and its box office success prompted analysis in trade outlets concerned with genre profitability and star-making vehicles.
The soundtrack, supervised by the film's music department and composer Christophe Beck, combines licensed pop and rock tracks with original scoring to underscore comedic beats and montages set on the Las Vegas Strip. Selections bridge contemporary artists and classic songs frequently featured in mainstream comedy soundtracks distributed for digital and physical sale. Music licensing involved negotiations with record labels and publishers connected to artists whose catalogues were leveraged for promotional trailers and in-film sequences.
The film catalyzed a franchise and influenced subsequent studio greenlights for R-rated ensemble comedies, contributing to franchise entries and spin-offs linked to its producers and principal cast. Its cultural footprint includes parodies, references in television programs associated with NBC, ABC, and Fox Broadcasting Company, and a recognized place in lists of influential comedies of the 2000s decade compiled by media outlets. The movie also stimulated tourism-oriented ties to Las Vegas bachelor-party marketing and prompted scholarly discussion in film studies programs at institutions that examine genre, star image, and the economics of blockbuster comedies. Category:2009 films