One of the biggest box office hits of the year, “The Hangover” finally comes to Blu-ray and DVD just in time for the holidays boasting a theatrical and unrated cut of the film (for once, you don’t have to choose between the two) and a slew of extras that are fun to watch once, but aren’t necessarily as good as you would expect.
“Picture-in-Picture Commentary”
The highlight of most Blu-ray releases is typically the audio commentary, and though this track featuring director Todd Phillips and co-stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis doesn’t start out strong, it gets better over time as they discuss everything from the music to Helms’ fake tooth to the different babies used during production. The picture-in-picture video doesn’t exactly, though, help because everyone involved looks positively bored (or just trying to enjoy the movie, you decide), so it can hardly be viewed as an incentive for Blu-ray owners.
“Map of Destruction”
This interactive feature lets you retrace the guys’ crazy night by visiting all of the locations they hit up along the way. From Caesar’s and the Riviera to Mike Tyson’s house, every stop includes interviews with the cast and footage of on-set antics. Tyson himself even gets a chance to shine with a great comeback on director Phillips.
“The Madness of Ken Jeong”
I’m not exactly sure why we needed eight minutes of Ken Jeong improvising, but this series of deleted scenes/alternate takes shows how he created the character of Mr. Chow through some experimenting.
“Action Mash-Up”
A 35-second montage of all the action in the film. ‘Nuff said.
“Three Best Friends”
An extended take of Cooper, Helms and Galifianakis freestyling a song.
“The Dan Band!”
A staple of Phillips’ movies, the Dan Band’s performance of “Fame” is presented in its entirety. Granted, it’s only a minute long, but this guy never fails to make me laugh.
“Gag Reel”
Eight minutes of line flubs, crack-ups and overall goofy behavior, the gag reel probably isn’t as funny as it should have been, but it’s still one of the better extras on the disc.
“More Pictures from the Missing Camera”
What should have been a home run is actually an underwhelming display of 100 photos from the infamous missing camera. Unfortunately, we’ve already seen all of the best ones, so these are pretty worthless.
Rounding out the special edition release is a digital copy of the film, but that doesn’t make this disappointing collection of extras any less so. Obviously, the movie is still worth owning, but Warner Bros. really dropped the ball on what could have been some equally enjoyable special features.
