Blu-Ray Review: Extreme Edition of Comedy Smash ‘The Hangover’

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CHICAGO – Holiday shopping season always inspires studios to try and find new ways to market their most successul films. If people loved a movie enough to buy it once, maybe they’ll buy it again with a few new special features and collectibles. Such is how we end up with releases like “The Hangover: Extreme Edition,” a cash grab that seems awfully quick considering most people probably bought the original Blu-ray less than a year ago. This is for hardcore fans only.

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

“The Hangover” is arguably the most successful comedy of all time at an amazing $467 million worldwide. With a sequel on the way next year, “The Hangover” proves that star power doesn’t need to drive every single hit and that word-of-mouth matters more than anything else. Last year, fans of the film were treated to a strong Blu-ray release drunk on the film’s success and loaded with special features, including an unrated version of the movie itself.

The Hangover: Extreme Edition was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on October 12th, 2010
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Home Video

The best thing about “The Hangover” is the undeniably clever set-up: three guys have such an out-of-control bachelor party in Las Vegas that they lose the groom. What happened the night before? The film opens with the revelation that groom Doug (Justin Bartha) is missing and then Todd Phillips’ comedy flashes back to the preparations in the city of sin. Doug’s buddies include a sleazy schoolteacher named Phil (Bradley Cooper), a weak-willed dentist named Stu (Ed Helms), and his new brother-in-law Alan (Zack Galifianakis).

After a toast on the roof of Caesar’s Palace, “The Hangover” flashes forward to the next morning and, well, there’s more than a little evidence to suggest a crazy ten to twelve hours have passed but none of the guys can remember exactly what went down. How did a tiger get in the bathroom? Why is Stu missing a tooth? Why has Doug been replaced by a baby? Phil, Stu, and Alan start with the valet receipt in their possession and trace back the events of the nice before, crossing paths with a hooker with a heart of gold (Heather Graham), a pair of moronic cops, an effeminate mobster (Ken Jeong), and even Mike Tyson as the put the pieces together and try to find to Doug.

The Hangover: Extreme Edition was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on October 12th, 2010 Photo credit: Warner Bros. Home Video

So what’s new with this year’s “Extreme Edition” of “The Hangover”? Almost nothing. They include a physical photo album of pictures from the end of the movie, a CD sampler (not even the whole soundtrack, a SAMPLER) of tracks from the film, and that’s about it. That’s extreme? The unrated version is previously available. The commentary is from last year’s Blu-ray. Even the 25 extra pictures of Ed Helms trying to pull his old tooth are from last year. Yawn. I can’t think of any reason to upgrade to this version if you already own the film. If you don’t own it, then you might as well go “Extreme” but most people who want to own “The Hangover” already do, which means this is basically just a release to tap that small market of buyers whose teen kid matured enough in the last year that they’ve finally decided he can own the movie that all his friends have been talking about at school.

Synopsis: “From “Old School” director Todd Phillips comes a comedy about a bachelor party gone very, very wrong. Two days before his wedding, Doug (JUSTIN BARTHA) drives to Las Vegas with his best buddies Phil and Stu (BRADLEY COOPER and ED HELMS) and his future brother-in-law Alan (ZACH GALIFIANAKIS), for a blow-out bachelor party they vow they’ll never forget. But when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning with pounding headaches, they can’t remember a thing. Their luxury hotel suite is beyond trashed and the groom is nowhere to be found. With no clue about what happened and little time to spare, the trio must attempt to retrace their bad decisions from the night before in order to figure out where things went wrong in the hopes of finding Doug and getting him back to L.A. in time for his wedding. But the more they begin to uncover, the more they realize just how much trouble they’re really in.”

Special Features:
o Picture-in-picture commentary with the stars and director
o Deluxe full-color 28-page wedding photo album
o CD Soundtrack sampler with 5 songs from the movie
o More pictures from the missing camera
o Map of destruction
o The madness of Ken Jeong action mash-up
o Three Best Friends song
o The Dan Band perfoms Fame

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com [email protected]