What happens in Vegas should stay in Vegas. The Hangover is centered around the bachelor party gone wrong. Four men (Doug, Alan, Phil, and Stu) enter Vegas in a borrowed Mercedes and engage in a night of debauchery. They awaken to find that Doug is missing and they now have a baby, that Alan affectionately names Carlos, and a tiger taking up residence in the bathroom of their suite. They scramble to try and make sense of the situation and find that none of the three have any memory of last night. Throughout the rest of the movie the men follow any leads they can find and slowly discover just how trouble they’ve caused. Their investigation leads them to a shootout at a wedding chapel, police brutality for children’s amusement, and even a hostage negotiation in the desert.

The movie resembles a more modern Wizard of Oz:

Alan needs a brain, Phil has no heart, Doug wants to go home, and Stu lacks courage. Although the story is centered on the trio’s search for the missing Doug, another hidden theme lies just beneath the surface. All of the characters have obvious faults and individually none of them would’ve been able to save Doug. This is an allegory for how we’ve come to accept that we can’t do everything on our own and we need a group to succeed.

Overall the movie is everything you hope for from a comedy: the laughs are consistent and unexpected, the concept is realistic enough that you can imagine it happening to you, and you get to watch someone get punched in the face by Mike Tyson.