Headache for the BBFC…Two versions of The Hangover

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Based on article from bbfc.co.uk The uncut UK Blu-ray is available at UK Amazon The uncut region 1 DVD is available at US Amazon The uncut US Blu-ray is available at US Amazon

The Hangover is a 2009 US/Germany comedy by Todd Philips The US Unrated Version was submitted for the 2009 Warner Blu-ray noted as the Extended Version. The BBFC explained: The Hangover is a comedy about a group of friends who lose the groom during a stag night trip to Las Vegas. This version contains material not featured in the cinema release and was classified 18 for strong sexual images. Over the film’s end credits there are a series of still photographs showing the activities of the stag night. Three of these pictures show one character apparently having fellatio performed on him in a lift. In the version classified 15 for cinema exhibition, these images were pixilated. However in the version submitted for classification as a video recording, the images are unpixelated and contravene the BBFC’s Guidelines on sex at 15 which state that sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. At 18 any more explicit images of sexual activity need to be justified by context and in this case the images are not particularly clear, are very brief, and illustrate in comic fashion the debauched nature of the stag night that the film focuses on. The film contains many jokes about various characters having sex with others including references to a woman being grossed out by semen and sight of a used condom being thrown around a car. There are also some visual images of bare breasted women dancing at a lap dancing club and a scene of full frontal male nudity in a non-sexual context when a man leaps out of a car boot with no clothes on. These sex references would have been passed at 15 as the guidelines at that category allow strong verbal references to sexual behaviour. The film also contains multiple use of strong language throughout, all of which would have been passed at 15 where BBFC Guidelines state that there may be frequent use. The film contains some comic scenes of violence, including men being hit with a metal pole and tasered by the police, as well as some verbal drug references alluding to the men inadvertently taking rohypnol and still photographs of one man snorting some cocaine. Previously the Theatrical Version was passed 15 for the 2009 cinema release and 2009 Warner DVD