“The Hangover 2"

By Bob Garver

__-_ “The Hangover Part II” has been unfairly criticized for repeating the same formula as its 2009 predecessor. People have gone so far as to call it a glorified remake, a label I find ridiculous. I have seen sequels that are glorified remakes, films that waste my time with inferior new characters having to learn the rules of the same situations. “The Hangover Part II” continues the story of the franchise’s characters. They now have a better idea of how to handle themselves in this situation, and they know to avoid some of the mistakes they made the first time. It’s a new film and a whole new set of details.
__-_ To be sure, many elements of the first “Hangover” are repeated, both narratively and stylistically. The film opens with Phil (Bradley Cooper) defeatedly making a phone call where he admits the disappearance of a friend. Cut to unforgiving shots of the film’s locale (originally Las Vegas, this time Bangkok). We go to a few days earlier where the main characters are getting ready for a wedding. This time it’s tight-knit dentist Stu (Ed Helms) getting married to his new love Lauren (Jamie Chung) in Thailand. __-_ Stu reluctantly invites unbalanced oddball Alan (Zach Galifianakis), who causes trouble from minute one. Two nights before the wedding, the guys go out for Just One Drink joined by Lauren’s younger brother Teddy (Mason Lee). Things get out of hand. The next morning Stu, Phil, and Alan wake up in a seedy Bangkok hotel room with evidence of a wild night. They have no idea how they got there or what they did the night before, they just want to leave. But there’s a problem: Teddy’s missing.
__-_ Fans of “The Hangover” know the drill at this point. Slowly but surely the group begins to figure out just how much trouble they’ve found as they look for their missing friend. Alan got his head shaved, Stu got a tattoo on his face. Alan’s buddy Chow (Ken Jeong) got them on the wrong side of some gangsters. They did unspeakable things at a strip club. They kidnapped not only a monkey, but a monk. And all they know about Teddy is that he’s minus a finger and he’s not on the roof. Eventually they find out that the solution is simpler than they thought. They make a frantic return just in time for the wedding. Over the credits, we see a set of shocking photographs that tell the story of the forgotten night.
__-_ Though some of the originality is gone, I did enjoy the humor more this time around. The dialogue is more polished and the monkey is a funnier sidekick than the baby. Also, there’s a lot more nudity. Of course the sequel is going to be raunchier in an attempt to one-up the original, the nastiest bits land with their intended effect. One thing I didn’t care for was that the film practically announces when one of the characters is about to say something funny. This is especially true when it comes to Alan, who frankly isn’t as funny as the film thinks he is. The film wants us to laugh when he has a platform to speak as opposed to laughing at anything he actually says.
__-_ I wasn’t crazy about the original “Hangover”, but “Part II” is a worthy follow-up if not a superior comedy. I have no problem with it following basically the same formula as the original, director Todd Phillips has identified what works and he’s sticking with it while adding enough to avoid repetitiveness. The same characters having a second Hangover under a new set of circumstances is a fine idea for a sequel. If you hate crude humor you should of course stay away from both “Hangovers”, but fans of the original will feel at home in “Part II”.

Three Stars out of Five

“The Hangover Part II” is rated R for pervasive language, strong sexual content including graphic nudity, drug use, and brief violent images. Its runtime is 110 minutes.