The Hangover Part II

Director: Todd Phillips
Writers: Todd Phillips, Craig Maizen, Scot Armstrong
Starring: Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifanakis
Release Date: May 26, 2011
Length: 1 hour 42 minutes

It’s been only two years and the wolf pack is back with Todd Phillips still in the director’s chair and with the exact same plotline, but this time they’re screwed up in Bangkok. Stu (Ed Helms) is the one getting married this time to the beautiful Thai Lauren (Jamie Cheung), who’s having their wedding on an island in Thailand to make Lauren’s strict Thai parents happy, by following tradition. The Pack travels to Thailand and they meet Lauren’s little brother, Teddy (Mason Lee), aka The New Doug. For two years, Stu has promised himself that he won’t ever get drunk with Doug (Justin Bartha), Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Allen (Zach Galifanakis) again. However, when Lauren encourages him to have a drink with the guys on the beach and invite Teddy along, history will repeat itself very soon. If a sequel had to be made from The Hangover, the only way to do it is to have the same guys forget everything from their crazy night before and lose an important person, which made the first film so successful. There would be no point making another comedy that just shows where the characters are in their lives a few years later. When reviewing the first film, I said that although all these continuous terrible circumstances the characters find themselves in are unrealistic, The Hangover is so ridiculously funny, you start to not care about the realism. In The Hangover Part II, you have to accept that realism isn’t arriving at all as well. However, this time it’s a bit harder for the audience to let their minds stretch the willing suspension of disbelief. It’s a contradiction to say that having the same plot was the only way for Todd Phillips to make a sequel and it’s also the film’s major downfall, but maybe a sequel shouldn’t have been made in the first place. Despite the first film being such a critical and box office success, it’s possible that The Hangover suffered the sequel curse that always ruins the authenticity of the first film. Even though some of the new inconvenient situations the characters find themselves in were original, they lost their shock value because the audience, most likely having seen the first film, is just expecting messed up stuff to happen. In The Hangover, most of the laughter didn’t come from the dialogue, but just the fact that there was a tiger, a baby, a naked Chinese man, and every event Stu, Alan and Phil were up against. Though it’s not Phillips or anyone’s fault, The Hangover could only really surprise us in one movie, and that is a major element that weakens The Hangover Part II. Besides a few new inventive ideas, the whole plot fit the same formula used in the first and that definitely didn’t throw anyone out of their chair laughing. Losing somebody, trying to make it back for a wedding and grotesque pictures during the ending credits left absolutely no effect on the audience because we saw the exact same thing two years ago. The only strong part of this film was the talented cast that sometimes made us forget for a second that we were watching the same movie. Zach Galifinakis of course generates the most laughs as the childish and slightly insane Alan, but both Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper still pull through the weaker script with flying colours. Helms especially shines through as a great actor, being the main character carrying the film. Helm’s performance was the only realistic aspect of this film unfortunately. By no means was this film boring. The script still had funny moments and one-liners that slid the audience through what felt like a repetitive memory. Although 2009’s The Hangover was one of my favourite comedies, it loses it’s creative touch now that it’s turned into a franchise that will most likely be milked until it’s got no innovation left. The Hangover Part II is not a complete failure, just an inevitable disappointment, so let’s all hope this doesn’t become a trilogy.