The Hangover: Part II

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, Paul Giamatti, Jeffrey Tambor, Jamie Chung, Mike Tyson
Directed by: Todd Phillips
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
2011

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: Phil (Bradley Cooper), Alan (Zach Galifianakis), and Doug (Justin Bartha) travel to Thailand for Stu's (Ed Helms) wedding. Things do not go as planned.

Review:

Tim: After the shockingly funny original, people were pretty pumped to see The Hangover: Part II. I admit I was really interested to see how this all played out. The characters from the original were so funny and entertaining, and I was excited to see what hijinks the guys could get into in a city like Bangkok. This was going to be an interesting ride.

Let's start with the good. It was legitimately fun to see Phil, Alan, Doug, and Stu together again (kind of, as Doug is again absent). I really, really enjoy these characters and I like watching them interact on screen together. That's the real source of fun and enjoyment from this movie. These are just great characters and they are so much fun to watch. For that reason, I really enjoyed this film.

The downside is that this movie follows the formula of the original a little too closely. While it was clever how they got Doug removed from the others, I actually wish he had been there with them. The movie also follows the same plot as the first film- Phil, Alan, and Stu traveling all over a crazy city, trying to cobble together the pieces of a lost night in an attempt to find a lost friend. I admit that the writing is clever and it's fun to see how the same situation could be recreated with slight deviations. Still, the movie felt a bit too redundant. It felt like a little bit of "been there, done that."

There are some very funny moments throughout this film, although none are really at the same level as the original. In the first film, there were some instantly classic, hilarious moments. There's some funny ones here, but they're not exactly up to the heights of the original.

Some of the best moments include Stu's face tattoo, the stick scene in the monastery, Chow in the ice machine, Stu's nasty prostitute experience, as well as several others. There are some really funny moments. Like in the original film, the movie moves along very quickly, pushed forward by the central mystery of, "Where is their lost friend?". Unfortunately, this loses some of the effectiveness because we've already been down this road before.

Look, The Hangover: Part II is a flawed movie, but in the realm of comedy sequels, it's one of the stronger ones (seriously, name the best comedy sequels ever- it's hard to do). There are some very funny moments, and the movie is legitimately entertaining. It's lost some of its freshness and it doesn't have the uniqueness of the original. However, these characters are just so entertaining that I really enjoyed seeing them again. This is a flawed movie, but it's still a very good one. I liked this movie, although it is unfortunately not as good as the first one.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Hangover, Due Date, Old School