In the Mouth of Movie Madness - The Hangover Part II

As the May slate of summer movies wraps up, an overweight Panda specializing in kung fu has a few words to say this weekend but he’s not alone.  The wolfpack is also back and is ready to let the dogs out all over again.  The highly anticipated follow-up to The Hangover is expected to make big bucks over the Memorial Day weekend and how fitting indeed.  As many people will be recovering from their own hangovers by Monday, the bachelor partying gang will be submitting audiences to their latest adventures in Bangkok of all places.  Does this sequel have what it takes to quench your thirst this summer season or is the wolfpack better left in Vegas?  Let’s take a look...

The Hangover Part II centers on Stu (Ed Helms) finally settling down and taking the dive into marriage.  Stu’s wedding is set to take place in his fiances home country of Thailand and the rest of the gang join together to see their pal joined in holy matrimony.  Unfortunately, old habits never die and Stu along with Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) wake up in Bangkok severely hungover and no recollection of the previous night.  To make matters worse, the guys have lost Stu’s 16-year old brother-in-law so the race is on to find him and make it back in time for the wedding.  Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, Jeffrey Tambor and Sasha Barrese all return as well as newcomers Paul Giamatti, Mason Lee and Nick Cassavetes.  Todd Phillips (The Hangover, Old School) also returns to the director’s chair to navigate the wolfpack in their latest excursion.

To be honest, the original Hangover didn’t knock me off my feet the first time I saw it.  In fact, when the film was gaining hype and a strong word of mouth, I avoided it for the longest time.  I was sure that this film wasn’t going to live up to the hype that people were making it out to be so instead of setting myself up for disappointment, I patiently waited until I was ready.  Once the original film started playing on movie channels, I finally sat back and decided to see what all the fuss was about.  The film didn’t seem like anything too special, it had its moments but I felt like it was overhyped.  Then something odd happened.  The Hangover was constantly being played around the clock and every time it was on, I couldn’t shut it off.  Needless to say, The Hangover became like an infection that consumed me so much that on a daily basis I still quote lines from it.  The original film was an example of Hollywood catching lighting in a bottle.  An underdog film that had no real star power attached to it but managed to make a huge dent on audiences with its simple but hysterical story.  Although, the original film grossed a whopping $277 million, a sequel had always been envisioned since the original’s inception.  Here we are two years later eagerly wondering, does The Hangover Part II hold a candle to the original?  Sadly, not so much.  Yes, the creative talent is back which is always a plus for any sequel but this film just seems to be relying on a little bit of the same old thing.  To be fair, I’ve heard many people complain that from the trailers it looks identical to the original just different circumstances.  Even before seeing the film I was defending it asking people what they expect from a sequel to The Hangover?  As a movie watcher, you have to question people’s gripes about things like this.  To be a fun audience with any film, you have to have a suspension of disbelief or else there’s truly no point in handing over your money to watch anything.  Obviously, in reality the likelihood of these guys encountering even the slightest scenario again would seem unlikely but let’s remind ourselves this is a comedy.  If you can get over the obvious comparisons to the original film, you’ll be better off but that still doesn’t get this flick off the hook that easily.

The chemistry amongst the actors is apparent as if they never left Vegas which is always fun to see as an audience.  While the humor is certainly there, it just seemed to miss its mark.  The film relies on the characters‘ traits we’ve come to know, but after a while it seemed a little too close for comfort to the original and grew tiresome.  I wanted to really love this film since the original had me in stitches but my lack of laughter this time around sums it all up for me.  The film also seemed to rely on upping the shock value of the guys experience’s the night before and in that respect they succeeded.  The wolfpack gets themselves in a ton of trouble this time and Stu’s marriage to a prostitute in Vegas seems like child’s play compared to what happens to him this time around and I’m not talking about a tattoo.  The film also takes advantage of the exotic location of Bangkok for exciting action scenes throughout the city.  While the film looks slick and definitely finds the guy’s in some messed up situations, its the laughs that people are searching for and there’s not many memorable ones.  Embarking on a sequel to a successful film is always a tricky situation because, unlike before, now there’s an expectation.  Few sequels ever manage to be better than their predecessors and The Hangover Part II certainly fails to achieve that.  It’s possible that with repeated viewings, the film may strike a better cord with audiences.  After all, the original Hangover managed to convert me to its hilarity but I doubt the sequel will have much luck with me in the future. 

Overall, The Hangover Part II doesn’t manage to pack the laughs like the original film did but that’s to be expected.  The best thing to do is to lower your expectations a pinch and take the film for what it’s worth and perhaps a better viewing experience will be made.  The Hangover Part II will be going head to head with Dreamworks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 2 this weekend and both are expected to pack the audiences in.  While it’s still too early to predict, The Hangover Part II doesn’t seem like it will be the worst comedy of the summer but I think there will definitely be better comedy opportunities to tickle your funny bone.  Although, if you end up hating the flick, take the rest of Memorial Day weekend to party like the wolfpack and wash away any memory of seeing the film.