In exactly seven days, I will be on a plane to Las Vegas for my bachelor party. And right from the start in "The Hangover," as the dark, shredding guitars can be heard over the Las Vegas skyline and as we watch four men scurry away from wives and girlfriends to hop into the Sin City-bound convertible, I found myself chuckling more than anyone else in the theater. Bring on the chaos. The anarchy. The unforgettable, unmentionable chaos!

I imagine every other male buying a ticket for this comedy will have much the same thought. So isn't it ironic that "The Hangover" is the Vegas comedy that will likely be enjoyed far more by the wives and girlfriends who are dragged to see it? This isn't a film about men behaving badly; it's about embarrassed men being forced to own up to their mistakes.

Heck, it's a cautionary tale.

Vegas with a conscience? Why not just go to Wisconsin Dells?

Let's recap where things go so terribly wrong: The film opens with the shot of a blushing bride - a nervous, festering, terrified bride who, with only three hours until curtain, has no idea where her husband is. Her phone rings. It's his best friend. We screwed up, he tells her, we've lost the groom.

What's ironic about "The Hangover" is that it's about the morning after, about trying to put back together the pieces from a crazy evening. We don't watch the spectacle play out in real time, but instead are placed in the middle of a most unusual detective story: What did we do last night?

The clues are ominous: A woman can be seen fleeing in the early morning hours. A wild tiger is sitting on the bathroom floor. A crying baby is in the closet. Several important items are missing: teeth, pants and any memories whatsoever.

Phil (Bradley Cooper) is a laid-back teacher who back in Los Angeles has a wife and child. Stu (Ed Helms) is a wound up dentist with an overbearing girlfriend back home, who thinks he's in Napa. Alan (Zach Galifianakis) is the brother of the groom, a bearded and bizarre loner who doesn't look all that different from modern-day Joaquin Phoenix.

The bachelor party is being thrown in honor of Doug (Justin Bartha). But he's a minor character, if for no other reason than no one has any idea where he is. They call his cell only to discover it's sitting in the hotel room. They go searching for his missing mattress and see it dangling from a statue on the casino roof. They go to the valet to pick up their car and are handed the keys to a police squad car instead.

I'll give the filmmakers this: It's an inventive premise. And while the movie focuses on the harsh realities of daylight, leaving these goofballs to look mighty foolish, what it's lacking are the envelope-pushing extremes that we are promised from frame one.

There's gun play that's far too tame. There's an encounter with the police that falls well short. Even Mike Tyson shows up - but without much interesting to say.

Director Todd Phillips made the rather funny "Old School," which really did revive frat comedy with a gleeful vengeance. But here, the fish-out-of-water Vegas shtick has been done better. Want maniacal? Try "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Want awkward? "Swingers" is money. Want card sharks? Stick to "Casino."

This movie wants to have it both ways: giving us a bad-natured film about boys who deep down really know better, constantly teasing us with the chaos. It may look good on paper, but it plays like a sellout of sorts. Vegas during daytime: not its good side.

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