The Hangover Part II
Director: Todd Phillips; Writers: Todd Phillips, Craig Mazin, Scot Armstrong
Warner Bros. Pictures
Man, it's been a while since I actually saw this movie in theaters, and my memory of it isn't all that great. If I had any journalistic ethics or anything like that, I probably wouldn't try to review the movie now. I think, however, that the reason I can't remember a lot of the gags from The Hangover Part II has less to do with the amount of time that's passed since my viewing it and more to do with the overall mediocrity of Todd Phillips' sequel, so fuck it - here we go.
The movie's predecessor, The Hangover, was a fairly amusing, if over-hyped, comedy that benefited greatly from the timing of its release: the sequel takes the same formula as the first film, and simply ups the gross out factor. Instead of looking for new characters or scenarios to provide laughs, Phillips and company rehash the plot of the original, with only a few slight tweaks: the action is now in Bangkok, and the "Wolf Pack" is now searching for Stu's (Ed Helms) fiancee's brother (Mason Lee). The Bangkok setting mainly functions as a means to make the city seem like the shittiest place on Earth, full of seedy streets and even seedier people. Mason Lee is equally useless in his role, acting as even more of a non-entity than the gang's friend Doug was in The Hangover (Doug is back for the second film, still not really doing anything). A "cameo" appearance by Paul Giamatti is head-scratchingly out of place and feels half baked in conception and execution.
As for the film's returning elements, the primary trio of Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper, and Zach Galifianakis provide most of the movie's laughs. Galifianakis in particular brings a special kind of gleeful and unbalanced energy to his role, and almost all of the most humorous bits revolve around his character. The film also benefits from the repeated structure of the original (even if it does feel repetitive), as the action moves at a frenetic pace that ensures the jokes that don't land aren't given time to linger. Other recurring bits are much more to the detriment of the movie - Ken Jeong reappears as the incredibly over-the-top gangster Chow, and while I like him in other roles (namely, Community), here he's simply terrible. Equally awful is the return of Mike Tyson, who (spoilers, I guess) comes back for a complete dud of a closing scene that caps off a movie-going experience filled with more misses than hits.
It's fine to reuse a formula that's worked moderately well before, as long as there's enough fresh material to make it a unique film. When all of the new bits fall flat, however, the formula starts to feel old really fast. The Hangover Part II isn't terrible - there were enough laughs to make it not a complete fiasco - but it certainly shows what happens when a franchise is unable to take steps forward.
Grade: C-
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