Monday, May 30, 2011

The Hangover Part ii Review

Todd Philips scored a major hit (as well as a major victory for the R rated comedy) with "The Hangover". Now it's a couple years later and we have the sequel. So how does it match up to the record-breaking first film? Well, actually pretty well as far as sequels go. The gang's all back for more mayhem and debauchery.

Stu is getting married in Thailand and so the guys fly over to show their support. What was supposed to be one celebratory beer turns into another night they can't remember and now the bride's brother is missing. The trio wake up in a hotel room and find Chow (the crime lord from the first one played hysterically by Ken Jeong) and while there's no baby this time, they seem to have acquired a monkey. Zach Galifianakis is still fitfully funny as Alan. Cooper is fun again as the rowdy up-for-anything guy in the pack. Ed Helms still plays Stu as the straight man of the group even when it becomes revealed of what he all did the night before.

While "The Hangover Part II" might not break any new ground and cannot match the first film's originality, it's still funny and the three leads have great comedic chemistry. However, there's a thing or two that don't work in the film. One thing, for example, is a Billy Joel theme running throughout the movie that doesn't fully make sense. Alan has a poster of Billy Joel's album Glass Houses and while the gang makes the flight over there's Billy's song "The Downeaster Alexa" and later Stu sings a modified version of "Allentown" which is funny but the Billy Joel thing doesn't fully make sense. Maybe there's more to it that will appear on deleted scenes on the films DVD/Blu-ray release. Another thing about the film is that while it's all still pretty funny, it just has a been-there-done-that-have-the-photos (literally) feel to the proceedings. Also, Bangkok is not Vegas and let's just say the part of Bangkok we see is not as photogenic (nor as friendly) as Vegas.

Much has been made about the film pressing the boundaries of the R rating. That's true, but it's not as extreme as one would think but make no mistake this is a hard R. Some surprise cameos deliver some nice pay-offs. One will be expected while the other will not be. Philips scores with this sequel but this should be the end of it (although it should win pretty handily at the box-office which might have the studio seeing franchise potential). Another movie with the same premise would test the audience's patience. However, audiences who loved the first will definitely like (if not love) this follow up.
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