We've all seen it. The Hangover. The very definition of "instant classic."
If you haven't seen it, stop reading and find your local video kiosk right now.
Done watching?
Okay. Now we've all seen it.
Instant classic, right?
Told you so.
So we've seen it and we love it. It's the comedy we all aspire to write. Even if your forte is writing thrillers or horrors or can't-hold-back-the-tears dramas, you know you'd be proud to be the co-writer of The Hangover... and so would your bank account.
But why does The Hangover work?
Primarily because of one thing: a simple goal.
What is that goal? Find Doug (the groom-to-be).
The mystery of Doug's location is what keeps us invested in the story. And the laugh-your-ass-off moments are what make us enjoy the ride.
So we know why The Hangover is great. Simple goal, right. But the reason for today's post is this:
Last week, I'm watching re-runs of The Office on TBS and during a commercial break I see the trailer for "Bridesmaids," the new Judd Apatow comedy. Somewhere in that trailer, I hear the voiceover dude say something like this: "Critics are saying it's the new Hangover! It's better than The Hangover!"
Wait, what was that?
It's better than The Hangover?!?!
Yeahhh, that's gonna come back to bite you. Just from the trailer, you can get a sense for why this film isn't even gonna step in the ring with The Hangover.
What was that thing we glossed over earlier? The reason for The Hangover's success??
A simple goal.
If you're gonna stand toe-to-toe with The Hangover, you gotta have an equally strong goal.
And Bridesmaids just doesn't.
If you've seen the film, you know this already. If you haven't, just google "Bridesmaids trailer" and you'll get a sense of the story.
What is the goal in Bridesmaids? Go ahead, tell me... No, I'll wait, go ahead, think about it... Really, I'm waiting, think it over... Had enough time? Okay, lay it on me...
Aaaaand there's the problem. There is no goal.
There may be many small, temporary, fleeting goals, but there is no all-encompassing, give-it-to-me-straight, simple-as-pie goal.
Bridesmaids is just a clusterfuck of vagina jokes with a wedding at the end. It's a copy-and-paste story set apart only by Judd Apatow's gross-out dialogue and situational comedy.
It's a serviceable comedy masquerading as a classic comedy. It's not 40 Year Old Virgin or Superbad or even Forgetting Sarah Marshall. And it's definitely not The Hangover.
All of those films have one thing in common: a simple goal.
Lose your virginity, finally!
Somehow get booze for the party-of-the-year.
Use your Hawaii vacation to forget your ex (yes, this sounds like a passive goal, but the protag is primarily proactive in his attempt to forget Sarah Marshall).
And of course, find Doug!
Simple, simple, simple.
What is the protagonist's goal in Bridesmaids?
Plan your best friend's wedding? Maybe. But she doesn't really try very hard to do that.
Get rid of your shitty fuckbuddy and date the nice cop who pulled you over? Again, she doesn't try very hard at that either.
Defeat your best friend's new evil friend and prove your worth? Not really. She gives up pretty easily.
Maybe it's: Restart your failed cake shop and do what you love. But she shows no real desire to pursue this until the very end.
If I had to really pinpoint the overarching goal in Bridesmaids, I'd have to say it's this: Find direction in your life.
And honestly, I think that's the real goal. But there's a major problem with this. It's an inner goal. It's not an outer goal.
Every great story should ideally have a protagonist with two goals: one they actively seek to achieve and one that is hidden inside them that they have yet to identify.
In "The Hangover", the protagonist is probably Stu Price... the guy with the bitch-zilla for a fiance. He's the only protagonist that makes a major change in the film. He goes from getting walked all over like a a tweaker factory welcome mat to actually standing up to his fiance and leaving her. Obviously, that's not the goal of the story though. His story goal is, again, to find Doug. That's his outer goal. His inner goal, the goal he's yet to identify, is to be a man and stand up to his fiance.
By giving Stu a simple outer goal, the writers of The Hangover give the audience something to really grasp on to, something to distract us into believing we're watching a movie about 3 guys trying to find their friend. But it's really just a film about a guy standing up for himself.
What is Bridesmaids about? It's about a girl changing her life. But there's no outer goal for us to grasp onto to distract us into believing we're watching a movie about anything else.
It's a fatal flaw. It's the reason most people will walk out of the theater wondering why they liked the movie, but didn't love it. It's why it will fade from memory like every other summer comedy.
And it's why Bridesmaids is not the new Hangover.
You wanna see the next Hangover, just wait for sequel.
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