An alpha, a beta, and an omega go to Vegas: a look at “The Hangover”

Last night I went to the second-run theater to see a movie I’d missed when it came out – The Hangover. While not as side-splittingly hilarious as I’d hoped, I still liked the film. In particular, I thought its mystery novel-like structure was unique and original, and the effeminate Asian gangster character was hilarious. The film concerns the aftermath of a bachelor party in Las Vegas in which the main characters, alpha Phil (Bradley Cooper), beta Stu (Ed Helms), and omega Alan (Zach Galifianakis) have to search for their missing friend Doug (Justin Bartha), who is due to be married two days after the party occurs. A couple of points:

• While omegas are largely stuck where they are, betas’ wounds are self-inflicted. Alan is a pedophile (he mentions early in the movie that he’s not allowed to go within 2,000 feet of schools) and a moron (his spiking of his and his buddies drinks with roofies, which he thinks is ecstasy, causes the blackout that drives the plot). Both Phil and Stu treat him the way you’d treat a cat vomiting on the carpet – something you can’t change but simply have to put up with. The film makes it clear, however, that Stu’s woes are the result of his own sacklessness. Stu is constantly hounded by his bitchy, controlling girlfriend, whom he must lie to repeatedly in order to even go on the trip (claiming they’re going to a wine-tasting instead of Vegas), who emasculates him by calling him “Doctor Faggot,” and refuses to let him kiss her. It is later revealed that she cheated on him while on a cruise years ago (the characters’ confusion over the profession of the guy who fucked her being a running joke throughout the film), and despite this, he still plans to propose to her after he returns from Vegas.
• These sorts of comedies work when the beta underdog character wins out in the end. A English professor I once studied under stated that the chief difference between Shakespearian tragedy and comedy is that tragedy ends badly while comedy ends happily. This holds true in Shakespeare plays that address similar subject matter, such as Romeo and Juliet (tragedy) and The Taming of the Shrew (comedy). Part of the reason that Funny People bombed (as mentioned by Whiskey here) was due to the depressing ending, in which Seth Rogen’s character is penalized for being moral and ends up losing everything. In contrast, The Hangover ends with Stu, the central character of the film, gathering up the nerve to break up with his cunt of a girlfriend to potentially pursue a relationship with an attractive single mom stripper he accidentally married while in Vegas. All of the other characters also end up victorious in their own ways, with Doug marrying his betrothed, Phil reuniting with his family, and Alan…remaining Alan. All of the plot threads are wrapped up in a way that is satisfying to the viewer.

UPDATE: z.g. reminds me of something I forgot:

See how even this is now pushed as being a “happy ending”?

He does not get to marry an

“Attractive university student he met in a Vegas church”

He gets to marry a stripper with a kid in tow.

A young man watching this will face another brainwashing in the form of “be happy you get the stripper with a bastard”.

See how the standard “Want to marry a virtuous girl to build a family with” is pushed down the drain, and a man is almost made ashamed of wanting that.

Be happy you get some attention from a non-openly bitchy woman.

Hurrrray!