Review in a Hurry: It has a couple of stand-out characters in Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis, and enough T-shirt-worthy catchphrases to keep the chuckles coming, but for all the outrageousness and raunch in this Vegas-gone-wrong caper, one crucial element too often goes missing: Fun.
The Bigger Picture: After a booze-soaked, mind-frying night in Las Vegas, a bachelor party turns into a rescue party. The men need to find a missing groomsmen, a tooth, divorce papers and a place to stash a 300-pound tiger. The hunt is led by Bradley Cooper (The Wedding Crashers), an obnoxiously slick bad boy; Zach Galifianakis, a silly, maladjusted savant; and a skittish prisoner of a domestic gulag, Ed Helms (The Office).
Director Todd Phillips (Old School) keeps his foot steadily on the throttle and the pace is brisk, despite the script's many speed bumps. The real engine motoring this flick along is Helms, in fact, with a slow-boil style of itchiness and anxiety that explodes splendidly as the men frantically try to find their friend.
The rest of it is frat-house humor: cussing, car crashes and the well-placed jock strap. But what's missing is, like, fraternity. There are too few moments of camaraderie between the men, as their situation grows ever more dire. The gimmick—and it's a good one—is that with each passing scene, the embattled trio get themselves into more serious trouble. Tension gets wound supertight, but there are few moments or pure hilarity or man bonding to let the air out.
So we're stuck in the Vegas sun, with a group of a-holes who keep screaming, "What are we going to do now?!" Like a long night of drinking, it sounds like a lot more fun before than after.
The 180—a Second Opinion: There are some savory moments when the men lighten up and begin to like each other. It's then that they're able to strike a winning balance of buddies doing very bad things.
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