The Hangover **

Released June of 2009.
Directed by Todd Phillips.
Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore.
With Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham, Sazha Barrese, Jeffrey Tambor, Ken Jeong, Rachael Harris, Mike Tyson, Mike Epps, Jernard Burks, Rob Riggle, Bryan Callen.

Okay, this film caught me by surprise in the opening scene. It starts out on a dusty desert Nevada road, to the sounds of Danzig's Thirteen, ( a great cover of that song was done by Johnny Cash by the way - he did some fantastic covers in his later years). The Cramps' version of Fever is here too. Unfortunately the rest of the soundtrack is exceedingly mundane.

So here is this gritty, dusty and dirty opener and I'm thinking this has potential. But alas, it just turns into another one of those "boys behaving badly" films that are so wildly popular now a days partially to the credit (or fault) of Judd Apatow.

There's some good jokes to be sure and the film definitely has it's moments. The boys are a little older here so it has a more mature feeling than say a typical "boys behaving bad" film and again there are some unique ideas here.

I know this is supposed to be a film in which crazy things happen, but the outcome is too convoluted and ridiculous at times. I say outcome because the events of the previous night of the hangover are revealed to us slowly. It turns into a sort of mystery. But that mystery is compromised by the pure silliness of it.

My least favorite part of that wild night was the Asian heavy who also was stylish and talked with a lisp. It was supposed to be funny, but it was just silly. It would have been better if the heavy was a true heavy with some good comedic lines and some character development.

So the plot is that the boys are getting together for one last hurrah in Vegas before the friend gets married. They wake up and find that they have forgotten everything and that they don't know where the groom is. He has disappeared. Now again, this had some appeal for me as a mystery, a comedic mystery. But when I find out what really transpired, I was disappointed. In fact, even at the end I was still unclear about what happened even after the candid photos were shown. The rest of the film is the remaining guys retracing their steps trying to figure out what happened.

There is one interesting character in this film. You have the usual archetypes. There's the geek, the suave guy and the bland good looking guy who is getting married. But the brother-in-law (played by Zack Galifianakis) is interesting. He's this sort of man-child that goes along for the bachelor's party trip and his mix of naivete and sexual creepiness makes the viewer downright uncomfortable.

Overall worth the $3.50 i paid for my son and I to go, but not more than that.

Here's a trailer, the r rated one - don't let the kiddies watch it.



Johnny Cash's version of "Thirteen".


And the original version by Glenn Danzig.



And finally, the Cramp's version of Peggy Lee's Fever, with pics of Bettie Page to boot!

The Motel Life **1/2

By Willy Vlautin.
Published by Harper Perrenial 2006.
First UK Paperback published 1999 by Faber and Faber Lmtd.
206 pages.

This is Vlautin's first novel. I had already discussed his later book, "Northline", several weeks ago. It is similar in many ways to that novel, though I think "Northline" is a better book. The problem with this one is that it tends to plod along after a while. Not that "Northline" doesn't have it's plodding moments - it's episodic in nature, but "The Motel Life" seems to be more so.

But "The Hotel Life" still has those aspects that I liked so much about "Northline". The characters are gritty and desperate. Yet there's a pervading humaneness and kindness that they display under their gruff exterior. It a portrait of the working and not so working poor. The reader becomes empathetic with these characters.

The story takes place in and around Reno, Nevada. The main character, Frank, is visited in the middle of a cold, snowy night by his older brother Jerry Lee. Jerry Lee is very upset. He had a hit and run accident in which a young boy had been killed. He states that he is not to blame since the kid just appeared out of nowhere on his bicycle in the middle of a snow storm, but he was drunk and he thinks that the police won't see it his way.

So they go on the lam. But they don't make it to their destination. Jerry Lee is wracked with guilt and he deserts his brother in the woods and shoots himself in the leg. Frank is forced to return home and brings him to the hospital.

Back home Frank does some thinking, especially about his ex-girlfriend who he still loves. Jerry Lee is not doing well, because his leg was in very bad shape previously to the shooting. The two brothers decide to go on the lam again, and go to a motel.

This book is compared to "Of Mice and Men" because the one brother seems to take care of the other, though Jerry Lee is not mentally challenged. At the motel the resolution of the story is very different for these men - tragic for one and hopeful for the other.

A trailer for the book. The end says it's going to be a movie!?!?!? Really?



A reading by the author...