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When The Hangover first hit theaters, it took the world by storm. Coming out at the peak of the raunchy comedy era, The Hangover was beloved by everyone. It was so successful that the studio immediately green lit sequels. Though that's exactly where The Hangover series started it's dramatic downfall.
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Now I know for sure, I just added two more guys to my wolf pack
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So tonight, I make a toast. What? What do you got there? Oh! This is The Hangover
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It's stellar cast, memorable premise, and darkly comedic tone made for the perfect raunchy comedy
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And as often happens with good movies, it was fast-tracked for two sequels
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But the series has been on the reputational decline for years. So how does a trilogy of movies that made a collective $1.4 billion at the box office degenerate to such an extent
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We've been on a lot of adventures together, but it seems like you haven't learned anything. Directed by Todd Phillips, The Hangover's story actually begins much earlier than its 2009 release date
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Based on an apparent real-life Las Vegas bachelor party bender, the writers had been working on this screenplay since at least 2007
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But various bits and pieces of the idea had reportedly been floating around Warner Brothers since 2003
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Now, this should come as no surprise considering the gross-out raunchy comedy subgenre was in full swing in the early 2000s
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The Scary Movie and American Pie franchises had already released several iterations
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and everyone was trying to cash in on the trend. That escalated quickly
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But as much as The Hangover may have been riding a wave of popularity
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it wasn't just a simple retread of what audiences had come to expect
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When the movie came out, critics were less than unanimous in their praise
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Some reviewers were all in for the dark, vulgar journey, while others were stuck in the admittedly tired stereotypes
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cut-and-dry misogyny and sexism, and dependence on shock-value humor. But there was no gray area in the audience's reaction
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The talent of Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper, and Ed Helms made what could have been a pale imitation of past comedies
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into something genuinely fun and fresh. While Cooper had mainly been a secondary character in popular movies like Wedding Crashers and Yes Man Helms was a regular on The Office and Zach Galifianakis was a relative unknown
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Together, they brought something truly special to the screen. The chaotic romp through Vegas was strengthened by the cast's believable friendships
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the wildly escalating antics, and the whodunit mystery at the center of the plot
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It did its job perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, The Hangover made over $469 million at the box office
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and enjoyed years of cultural relevance. It's been parodied to death by other media
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made up a large chunk of frat boy Halloween costumes for almost a decade
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and even had an impact on Las Vegas itself, particularly the Caesar's Palace Hotel, in which some of the movie takes place
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Did Caesar live here? Um, no. I don't think so. To say The Hangover was a success is putting things extremely mildly, but it was never a
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guaranteed hit. Before filming even began, the execs wanted to split the movie's budget and
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Todd Phillips' director's fee in half due to a lack of confidence in the idea and unwillingness
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to throw money at it. To leave the budget intact, Todd Phillips waived the majority of his director's
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fee, cutting a deal to receive a portion of the profits the movie made. This actually ended up
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making Todd Phillips a ridiculous amount of money, considering how well The Hangover ended up performing in theaters
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And that success meant a sequel was immediately on the table. With the same director, the same cast, and virtually the same premise
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The Hangover, part two, was bound to be just as good as the first movie
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Right? Sue, it's not the end of the world. I'm sorry, but I am so confused
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The second Hangover was nothing more than a dull, uninspired and painfully unfunny copy of the first movie. Everything from the bachelor party
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plot catalyst to the mystery of their missing friend to the antagonists of the movie were all
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lifted directly from its predecessor However this didn stop the sequel from smashing box office records prompting the immediate green light of a third entry 2013 The Hangover Part 3 But this time audiences didn flock to theaters
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The reception to Part 2 had done its damage, cutting box office revenue in half for this final outing
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with critic and audience scores dipping in its wake. The name that was synonymous with top-tier R-rated comedies in 2009
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had become a vile stain on the genre by the early 2010s
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So what happened to make audiences turn on The Hangover series so fast
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Guys, we can't fall apart now. We gotta stick together. Perhaps the most overlooked issue that The Hangover series faced
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was the very public success of the first movie. It took all the wild jokes, offensive content
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and mature subject matter that people were used to seeing in movies like Eurotrip
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and pushed them even further. This level of shock and horror was exactly what these types of movies
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had been gearing up to for years. Nothing was off the table, and in some cases
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they pushed those boundaries right over the edge. How do you top that? The short answer is, you can't
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Because while The Hangover was a sensation in theaters, it would also mark the slow decline
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of the raunchy R-rated comedy. Once audiences had seen all the debauchery
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that the genre had to offer in a single movie, that initial thrill wore off
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For a lot of people, it wasn't funny at all anymore, just downright offensive
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I got a pretty dope sense of humor, brah. Other production companies and Warner Brothers themselves had to adapt
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They could choose to try to top The Hangover's raunchiness, which was a losing battle on all sides
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or they could tone it down and change with the times. Most companies chose the second option
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But Warner Brothers kind of straddled the line, and this is where those terrible sequels come back into play
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It wasn't just the recycled plot that hurt The Hangover Part 2. Every dark joke they threw at the audience had been done before
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and thus wasn't nearly as exciting as it had been in 2009
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In general their attempts to humanize the characters outside of the context of that original Vegas adventure the writers actually made the Wolfpack unlikable and unrelatable which completely ruined their charm
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And when they tried to appease the censors and flip the script in Part 3, they lost their
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edge, which meant they lost what made The Hangover such a hit in the first place
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How do you kill what's already dead? Playing out more like a paint-by-numbers heist movie, The Hangover Part 3 wasn't even a soulless rehash
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It was a boring mess with a strangely depressing tone, way too much death, and a heavy focus on the character of Alan, who only really worked as a comic relief sidekick
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When his weirdo nature was used sparingly in juxtaposition of Phil and Stu, things were fine
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But elevating him to main protagonist status made for a truly odd and, at times, frankly frustrating experience
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Grow up, Alan. Part 3's departure from the format should have been revitalizing, but it failed spectacularly
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It's no wonder the third movie was also the final one in the series
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We gotta go. We should go. Yeah. Yeah. Basically, the creative minds behind The Hangover had literally written themselves into a corner
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and had no way to back out or move forward. The greatness and vulgarity of the first movie couldn't be replicated
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and the sequels only served to water down its legacy with poor execution
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and the heavy burden of expectation. But while we can mourn the loss of The Hangover
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we should also be mindful of the space it left behind. Movies like Bridesmaids, 21 Jump Street, and The Nice Guys
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all came out of that post-hangover period of time where companies had to adapt to a changing market
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These other movies are incredibly entertaining in their own right. They're whip-smart, charming, and sometimes hilariously disgusting
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but it's clear where their influences came from. There was never a chance that the hangover style of humor would age well
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That's sort of the nature of raunchy comedies. So while we likely won't ever see a hangover movie that properly recreates the feeling of the original, its impact on the industry is undeniable
#Film & TV Industry
#Spoofs & Satire
#Comedy Films