The Inevitable Downfall Of The Hangover Franchise

now I know for sure I just added two more guys to my wolf pack so tonight I make a toast what what do you got there this is The Hangover it's Stellar cast memorable premise and Darkly comedic tone made for the perfect raunchy comedy and as often happens with good movies it was fast tracked for two sequels 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 dollars at the box office to generate to such an extent we've been on a lot of adventures together but it seems like you haven't learned anything directed by Todd Phillips The Hangover story actually begins much earlier than its 2009 release date based on an apparent real-life Las Vegas bachelor party Bender the writers had been working on this screenplay since at least 2007 but various bits and pieces of the idea had reportedly been floating around Warner Brothers since 2003. now this should come as is no surprise considering the gross out ranji comedy subgenre was in full swing in the early 2000s the scary movie and American Pie franchises had already released several iterations and everyone was trying to cash in on the trend that escalated quickly much as The Hangover may have been riding a wave of popularity it wasn't just a simple retread of what audiences had come to expect when the movie came out critics were less than unanimous in their praise some reviewers were all in for the dark vulgar Journey While others were stuck in the admittedly tired stereotypes cut and dry misogyny and sexism and dependence on shock value humor but there was no gray area in the audience's reaction the talent of Zach Galifianakis Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms made what could have been a pale imitation of past comedies 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 together they brought something truly special to the screen the chaotic ROM through Vegas was strengthened by the cast's believable friendships the wildly escalating Antics and the whodunit Mystery at the center of the plot it did its job perfect so perfectly in fact The Hangover made over 469 million dollars at the box office and enjoyed years of cultural relevance it's been parodied to death by other Media made up a large chunk of frat boy Halloween costumes for almost a decade and even had an impact on Las Vegas itself particularly the Caesars Palace Hotel in which some of the movie takes place 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 guaranteed hit before filming even began the execs wanted to split the movie's budget and Todd Phillips director's fee in half due to a lack of confidence in the idea and unwillingness to throw money at it to leave the budget intact Todd Phillips waved the majority of his director's feet cutting a deal to receive a portion of the profits the movie made this actually ended up making Todd Phillips a ridiculous amount of money considering how well The Hangover ended up performing in theaters and that success meant a sequel was immediately on the table with the same director the same cast and virtually the same premise The Hangover Part 2 was bound to be just as good as the first movie right it's not the end of the world I'm sorry but I am so confused the second hangover was nothing more than a dull uninspired and painfully unfunny copy of the first movie everything from the bachelor party plot Catalyst to the miss history of their missing friend to the antagonists of the movie were all lifted directly from its predecessor however this didn't stop the sequel from smashing box office records prompting the immediate green light of a third entry 2013's The Hangover part 3. but this time audiences didn't flock to theaters the reception to Part 2 had done its damage cutting box office revenue in half for this final outing with critic and audience scores dipping in its wake the name that was synonymous with top tier R-rated comedies in 2009 had become a vile stain on the genre by the early 2010s so what happened to make audiences turn on The Hangover Series so fast guys we can't fall apart now we gotta stick together perhaps the most overlooked issue that The Hangover series faced was the very public success of the first movie it took all the wild jokes offensive content and mature subject matter that people were used to seeing in movies like EuroTrip and pushed them even further this level of shock and horror was exactly what these types of movies had been gearing up to for years nothing was off the table and in some cases they pushed those boundaries right over the edge how do you top that the short answer is you can't because while The Hangover was a sensation in theaters it would also Mark the slow decline of the raunchy R-rated comedy once audiences had seen all the debauchery that the genre had to offer in a single movie that initial thrill wore off for a lot of people it wasn't funny at all anymore just downright offensive I got a pretty dope sense of humor bruh other production companies and Warner Brothers themselves had to adapt they could choose to try to top the hangover's raunchiness which was a losing battle on all sides or they could tone it down and change with the times most companies chose the second option but Warner Brothers kind of straddled the line and this is where those terrible sequels come back into play 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 and thus wasn't nearly as exciting as it had been in 2009 in general their attempts to humanize the characters outside of the context of that original Vegas Adventure the writers actually made the wolf pack unlikable and unrelatable which completely ruined their charm and when they tried to appease the sensors and flip the script in part 3 they lost their Edge which meant they lost what made the hangover such a hit in the first place you care what's already dead playing out more like a paint by numbers Heist movie The Hangover Part 3 wasn't even a soulless rehash it was a boring mess with a strangely depressing tone way too much death and a heavy focus on the character of Allen who only really worked as a comic relief sidekick when his weirdo nature was used sparingly in juxtaposition of Phil and stew things were fine but elevating him to main protagonist status made for a truly odd and at times frankly frustrating experience grow up Alan part 3's departure from the format should have been revitalizing but it failed spectacularly it's no wonder the third movie was also the final one in the series we gotta go we should go yeah yeah basically the creative minds Behind The Hangover had literally written themselves into a corner and had no way to back out or move forward the greatness and vulgarity of the first movie couldn't be replicated and the sequels only served to water down its Legacy with poor execution and the heavy burden of expectation but while we can mourn the loss of The Hangover we should also be mindful of the space it Left Behind movies like Bridesmaids 21 Jump Street and the nice guys all came out of that post-hangover period of time where companies had to adapt to a changing Market these other movies are incredibly entertaining in their own right they're whip smart charming and sometimes hilariously disgusting but it's clear where their influences came from there was never a chance that the hangover style of humor would age well 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 hey thanks so much for watching today's video if you haven't done so already we'd love for you to 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Channel: Nerdstalgic

Views: 369,174

Keywords: The Hangover, The Hangover Downfall, The Hangover Franchise, The Hangover Sequels, The Hangover Movie, Nerdstalgic, Nerdstalgic Comedy, The Hangover 2, The Hangover 3, The Hangover Quotes, The Hangover Zach Galifinakis, The Hangover Ed Helms, The Hangover Bradly Cooper, The Hangover Failure, The Hangover Caesars Palace, Horrible Bosses, Horrible Bosses 2, American Pie, American Pie Franchise, Todd Phillips, Comedy, New Rockstars, Screen Crush, IGN, Corridor Crew, Screen Rant

Id: HkC4o3wGxko

Length: 8min 7sec (487 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 23 2022