Great review, Drew.

That title of this article is awful. Not only is it not professional, it\’s not funny. Rethink that one, guys.

As for why The Hangover was a success, it was simple: it was a movie first, a comedy second. It was a tightly-plotted mystery movie, with a rooting interest in solving said mystery (where\’s the groom?). Also, due to the \’morning-after\’ nature of the narrative, the filmmakers were able to actually keep most of the cliche (and boring) debauchery offscreen. No one spends the movie scoring drugs, getting laid, doing extended improv riffs, etc. There is a driving interest in piecing together the puzzle of what happened the night before, so the film works as a comedic variation on Memento.

Because there is an urgency and a notable ticking clock, the film cannot stop for the actors to improv. By keeping the groom innocent and sympathetic, the movie gets away with allowing two of the three leads to be a little obnoxious (but that\’s not over the top either, Cooper is a cad, but he subtly realizes the error of his ways). Sure, we may dislike the leads at a given point, but we want them to rescue the groom so we root for their success. All of the comedy flows out of the story, rather than vice-versa.

As for the women, I do wish that Heather Graham had a bit more to do, but the film was very careful in its depiction of Melissa Harris\’s character. When she gets dumped/scorned by Ed Helms, he calls her simply \’not a good person\’. Her negative traits are never considered a product of her femininity, but rather simply the fact that she is paranoid and controlling.

Ironically, it appears that Due Date forgot every lesson of note from The Hangover. And no, I have no driving desire to see The Hangover 2. Once was enough.