The Hangover
Part II
Starring:
Bradley
Cooper, Zach Galifanakis, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha.
Running
time: 102 minutes.
Year:
2011
Directed
By: Todd
Phillips.
Written
By: Craig
Mazin, Scot Armstrong & Todd Phillips.
Have you ever seen The Hangover? I will be really surprised if anyone is thinking no!
If you have seen the first just take the entire story, remove it from Las
Vegas, take it across the world, and drop it in Bangkok. Then start the story
again and replace any pivotal moments from the first with a new animal,
incapable human or disfigurement.
The second one is based around Stu's wedding. He is
about to marry a gorgeous Thai woman (not a Thai bride and way too pretty for
him), and is making Phil and Doug come with him to the wedding, especially
since his father-in-law to be hates him. Initially Alan is uninvited but after
much persuasion from Doug and Phil, Stu allows it. Once we are in Thailand each
character begins to show their typical characterisations: Phil is the party
animal, Stu is Mr. Sensible and Alan is stupid as can be.
Stu is adamant no bachelor party will take place but
agrees to one quiet beer on the beach with Phil, Alan, Doug and his fiancée's
little genius brother Teddy. Zoom forward twelve hours later and the original
'wolf pack' wake up in a shady hotel in Bangkok. From there we are back in the
Las Vegas hotel room with Stu waking up with a tattoo (not missing a tooth) and
a monkey in the bathroom (not a lion) and one of the group missing, Teddy (not
Doug cause he's boring and stayed at the resort). From here we see the group
trying to remember what happened the night before and trace back their tracks
through the stuff in their pockets and find themselves at a police station, a
hospital, a tattooist and a monastery. Does this all sound familiar? Well if it
does when you think of the first one and piece together how they found Doug,
you may know where Teddy is from the beginning. Honestly this film just takes
the entire thread of the first film and changes a few details along the way. It
takes away all element of surprise.
There are still some good laughs in this film. Many
will be disappointed but many will still be laughing. The jokes in this one are
a lot cruder and darker. It also shows well the dirty shady areas of a place
like Bangkok compared to Las Vegas. The jokes though mainly come from Alan
(Galifanakas) and mainly at the expense of Stu (Helms). Once again like the
first one I found Phil (Cooper) nowhere near as funny as the others and seems
to be the one that less funny stuff happens to. Alan's stupidity is really the
driving force of the comedy and there are a few very funny bits including the
whole scene of have 'a demon' in Stu. Probably the funniest part of it all. The
problem with the Alan character though is that they seem to have made him even
more stupid and over the top. They've done to Alan what the American Pie franchise done to Stifler.
He just got more silly and it became worse rather than better.
The
Hangover II is an easy watch, and you will probably
be laughing at the anticipation of it as opposed to the comedy of it. We also
get Chow (Ken Jeong), back from the first one. He appears much more in this one
and at times is completely over the top and it can be a little cringe worthy.
Even more cringe worthy though would be the cameo from Mike Tyson. Something
that was completely unneeded. He can't act or sing for that matter. There is
also a fatter Paul Giamatti. His talents are wasted here and he may watch this
and see how bad he looks.
I have to say I am a little disappointed with this
sequel but I was expecting that. If the writers had of taken it in a different
direction it could have really worked, but by producing a carbon copy of the
original they have ruined it. In parts it is funny and it is an easy watch so
it won't be the worst film you have ever seen but it is not a patch on the
original. You may as well give it a watch as it is a bit of fun but let's just
hope, with The Hangover Part III in
the pipeline, that they at least take us in a different direction and not just
show Alan getting married in Amsterdam, with a snake instead of a monkey, Stu
having had a nose job and Alan's Dad going missing. Oh wait I could be onto
something here!
2.5
/ 5
Tolli
Next film to review: MISERY
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