In this booze- and laugh-soaked sequel to The Hangover, the buddies from the earlier film's bachelor party reunite for a wedding trip to Thailand where one of them, Stu Price (Ed Helms), is planning to tie the knot. Stu is determined that his own pre-wedding party should be a restrained and dignified affair, but between the habits of his friends and the multiple distractions of Bangkok, fate has other plans in store for him.
Ah, The Hangover Part II; a sequel that apparently everyone wanted to see based on the box office records it is about to break this opening weekend. They were probably thinking that same thought while coming up with this sequel. I understand completely that you should not deviate too far from the path that made you successful in the first place, but were they really that lazy that they had to use most of the same jokes and situations over again. It is downright pathetic if you were to sit down and compare the two films side by side.
I will be one of the first to say that I thought the original was a hysterical good time. It was a hidden gem that blind-sided you so hard; you could not breathe at times. It was that sense of freshness mixed with a cast with great chemistry that made the film so damn fun to watch, but all of that goes out the door here. That sense of mystery in the first one went by quick because the transition between scenes was smooth, but they rehash the exact same scenario here. Get drugged, wake up with another hangover, find the missing person by retracing your steps, after they call it quits, a sudden epiphany occurs and you save the day at the last possible minute. I am not going to say some of the scenes were not funny because I laughed quite a bit, but at the same time I found myself bored just as much. This wasn’t new; I get the basic storyline, but I just don’t understand why they had to constantly throw the first films jokes at you. When they did throw new material at you, it was funny, even hilarious, but they just didn’t do it enough to have this stay afloat.
Getting to watch the characters throughout another shenanigan was exciting to see, but once again I find myself wondering the originality of them again. Alan, the obvious fan-favorite, is hit and miss this time around. When the joke works, you’ll be laughing pretty hard, but when he misses, you get that long awkward phase that seems to last an eternity. His little remarks that made the first so great seemed to disappear here. Phil gets the best dialect here and Bradley Cooper plays that cocky dude o so well. Last is Ed Helms as Stu who is the worst of the bunch because if you think about him, he literally gets the exact same jokes except a minor thing is changed. He sings his stupid song, gets a tattoo instead of losing a tooth, and ends up with the girl. He was the weakest of the pack. If it were just the three in the film, it wouldn’t have been a problem but the side characters are just fucking brutal. I don’t understand how Chang ever became so popular. He was great in a tiny dose, but to give him a good thirty minutes of screen time was an absolute mistake, everything funny about him was wrapped up with at the end of the first. And his introduction into the film was disgusting, not funny. That damn monkey kept getting laughs from the crowd that I was in, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I guess I don’t find a smoking monkey all that funny. Throw in Mike Tyson and the final throw the original in your face was complete, but I was half expecting Black Doug to somehow make an appearance with just how bizarre that turned out characters.
The Hangover 2 is good for a few laughs, but it just doesn’t hold a candle to the original. I’d have a hard time recommending this too a non-Hangover fan, but at the same time fans of the first might feel just as cheated as I. If you absolutely must, have a go at the film, but my advice is to back off and just go see Bridesmaids since it fits the bill as the same brand of comedy, but with a far more fresh perspective. If The Hangover Part 2 doesn’t wind up being the worst comedy of the summer, I will surely be disappointed.
Overall Score: 4.5/10
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