If you loved the first ‘Hangover’ film like I did, you were probably excited for the sequel like everyone else in the world. There’s a saying, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”; it works well for video games, why won’t it work for films? The Hangover Part 2 is the same exact film as its predecessor with Stu taking the place of Doug as the groom-to-be, a monkey taking the place of baby Carlos, and a monk as the stolen lion. Stu is getting married to Lauren (Jamie Chung) in her parents native homeland of Thailand, and don’t worry, the rest of the Wolf Pack is back including Alan, Phil, and Doug including Mr. Chow who steals the majority of the laughs. The gang, just like in the first one, celebrates the bachelor party and end up blacking out and wake up the next day hung-over with no recognition of what happened the night before. The film is bigger, more vulgar, but not better. The first film was dark humored but was enough to handle. The second, however, is too dark to laugh at. If Todd Philips thinks that we could laugh at death and drug overdose, then he is surely mistaken. Zach Galifianakis is typecast as the overweight man-child who may or may not have mental health issues. His character seems to be a bit more demented and comes off as a murderer with the mentality of a four-year-old boy. Bradley Cooper is nothing special, he’s the one trying to keep everything under control and Ed Helms is trying to keep it cool but is overwhelmed with the knowledge of what happened to him. I will not give anything more away. The vulgarity is heightened and the nudity is doubled; it feels as though Todd Phillips tried to one up the original but falls very short in doing so. Nick Cassavetes as the tattoo artist is entertaining to watch but those who don’t know who he is will think nothing more. Bryan Callen, who plays the chapel owner in the first, reappears as a strip club owner. All in all, The Hangover Part 2 is much of the same film as the first with few laughs in the beginning. Ken Jeong steals the laughs as Mr. Chow.
3 out of five stars.
You nailed it on the spot. I loved 'The Hangover' and when I heard they were filming the sequel, I wondered how they would pull it off. They didn't and it was disappointing, yet expected. I don't think I laughed as much and the only scene where I reacted was when Phil got shot. The interaction was pretty funny. The worse may be coming with their intention of producing '3' and '4'. Unless Todd Phillips has an epiphany of greatness and originality for the next few films, it could be a good red box rental
ReplyDeleteWell, Todd Phillips has stated that the third and final film will not follow the same format as the first two and I am curious to see what that is like.
ReplyDeleteHow about waiting for it to premier on Showtime or HBO instead?