In 2009 Cooper hosted Saturday Night Live with musical guest TV on the Radio, portraying actor Christian Bale in one sketch, and appeared in a supporting role in the film He's Just Not That Into You. Cooper's breakthrough role came in Todd Phillips' comedy The Hangover (2009). He played Phil Wenneck, one of three friends (Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis) to wake up from a bachelor party in Las Vegas with no memory of the previous night. The Hangover was a commercial success and finished as among the highest-grossing R-rated films in the United States. A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Cooper... offers the most interesting variation on an old standard, playing his aggressive, cocky frat boy with a snarl of rage that masks an anxiety as hard to account for as it is to miss." For his performance Cooper received an award at the 13th Hollywood Film Festival and his first nomination for MTV Movie Awards (Best Comedic Performance). The Daily Telegraph opined that the film's success turned Cooper into "a bona fide leading man". Nevertheless, Cooper stated in a 2011 interview with Shave: "It's the same. I mean, look, more doors have been opened for sure, but it's not like I sit back with a cigar on Monday morning and go through the scripts that have been offered."
