The Hangover Part II (2011)

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, 
Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong

Directed by: Todd Phillips

Written by: Todd Phillips, 
Scot Armstrong, Craig Mazin 

Duration:  1hr 42mins

Rating: 2 out of 5

AND AT LEAST THEY HAD THE
DECENCY TO ADD TIM CURRY

Like many people, I went to see The Hangover in 2009 and had a great time.  Then I caught it again on DVD, and found it significantly less funny.  Still an original idea well executed, but definitely not the comedy masterpiece its reputation would have you believe.

Fast forward two years, and after sitting through the dreadful Hangover Part II I left the cinema with no intention of even granting it a second viewing.

It’s the most shamelessly fast-tracked, flat-packed sequel since Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and the most blatant excuse for a cast and crew to have a paid exotic holiday since Ocean’s Twelve.

When it comes to sequels, the best follow a successful formula to give us more of what we liked before whilst still moving the story and characters on – the first two Terminators and the Ghostbusters films spring to mind.

NO WAIT, IT IS DIFFERENT:  I FORGOT
ABOUT GALIFIANAKIS'  SHAVED HEAD

Others, like the specimen we have here, are just lazy cash-ins.  The screenplay is a real  find/replace affair: Vegas/Bangkok; groom/bride’s brother; baby/monkey; missing tooth/tattoo; prostitute/transvestite stripper.  That’s when it’s not just copying the story beats from the original wholesale: Phil's ‘I’m sorry’ phone call opening; Alan drugging the group; the final act sequence of high speed chase to wedding, followed by Stu finally standing up for himself, followed by the group looking over dodgy photos from the night before,

JUSTIN BARTHA: MIFFED TO WIN THE AWARD FOR
"MOST REDUNDANT SEQUEL RETURN OF ALL TIME"

None of this would be a problem if there were some funny jokes, but there aren't. Instead it just tenuously rolls out Mr. Chow again so Ken Jeong can do his same old zany shtick, and relies on predictable crudity and racial stereotypes with no wit or imagination (they’re in Bangkok… how long before a ladyboy gag? Yawn).  Worse still is the pace: a race-against-time film like this needs some urgency and sense of momentum, but the film feels bleary and sluggish – the kind of hangover where you don’t want to get out of bed, not the energetic and exasperatingly funny type that the first movie managed to nail in its strongest moments.  In fact at times The Hangover Part II is actually pretty boring, lumbering as it does from one contrived scene to the next.  And you know you’re in trouble when having Paul Giamatti turn up in your movie actually makes it worse.

Bradley Cooper delivers his usual asshole screen persona, Ed Helms is the wimpy one again, and as for Zach Galifianakis… why are we supposed to like this Alan character?  Because he’s petulant and childish?  Because he’s fat and has a beard?  Because he uses the word ‘retard’, and improbably pronounces it wrong?  It’s a mystery to me.

"WE HAD A SICK NIGHT, BITCHES!"

Dubbing the movie ‘part two’ is one of Todd Phillips and company's worst crimes – if they'd called it The Hangover Again (or rather, Hungover Again), then all concerned could have made a joke out of it being exactly the same as the first one, the same shit happening to the same guys twice. Then maybe, maybe it could have worked in a self-aware, so-bad-it’s-good way.  As it stands, I feel cheated by all concerned, and in my mind Phillips has relegated himself from a serious challenger to Judd Apatow to nothing but a cynical hack.  When the inevitable third entry lurches around, I don't reckon I'll bother with it at all.  **1/2