Las Vegas Weekly

June 2, 2009 · 10:49 AM

Las Vegas-filmed The Hangover screens here tonight at Town Square

By Robin Leach

Three men and a baby: Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms in The Hangover.

Photo: Warner Bros.

Much of America has to wait until Friday to see the new comedy The Hangover, but Las Vegas is getting the premiere screening tonight because so much of the film was shot at Caesars Palace and throughout town. The screening starts at 7 p.m. at Rave Motion Pictures in Town Square and will be followed by the official after-party at McFadden’s Restaurant and Saloon in The Rio.

It’s the story about a wild bachelor party night in Las Vegas that goes horribly wrong. The film stars ShoWest 2009 comedy winner Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham, Justin Bartha and Jeffrey Tambor. Former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson has a cameo. Todd Phillips, who scored previously with Old School, Starsky & Hutch and School for Scoundrels, directed the comedy.

The film shows the bachelor boys stepping out onto the rooftop of Caesars Palace, raising their glasses to toast to the groom’s new life and “a night we will never forget” -- and that’s the last thing they remember. When they wake up the next morning, their suite is trashed, there’s a tiger cub loose in the bathroom, and there’s a baby in the closet!

Here’s the trailer on YouTube:

Heather, who was here this weekend for the sixth anniversary celebration of our Vegas magazine at Pure over the weekend -- click HERE for that story -- spent three months filming here in her role as a stripper and hooker. When I chatted with Heather over the weekend, she said that she has experienced only one hangover in her life and vowed “never again.” She says she keeps her sanity in Hollywood with yoga and therapy. In fact, when she was filming at Caesars, she wasn’t at the gaming tables or in our nightclubs; she stuck with spa treatments instead of dancing till dawn!

Some critics are tipping The Hangover as the sleeper comedy hit of the summer. Whatever the reaction this weekend, it is positive promotion for Las Vegas as the best destination in the world for that final blowout bachelor bash!

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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