The Hangover Part II Review
By: T.J. “I don’t get it, is this a magic show” Mulligan
In 2009 The Hangover was the runaway success story of the comedic cinema world. Made on a budget of $35 million, positive word of mouth and critical lauding led droves of people around the world into the cineplex to witness what others had been talking about. This sort of action (and reaction) led to The Hangover grossing over $465 million worldwide and becoming one of the highest grossing films of the year. In an era where original films rarely get a chance to flourish, let alone succeed in doing so, a sequel was all but inevitable. Fast forward two short years and here we sit with The Hangover Part II. With the first film unwittingly capturing a wide mainstream audience, does the sequel hold onto the magic or does returned success prove too daunting of a task?
Two years after the events of the first film, friends Stu (Ed Helms), Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Doug (Justin Bartha) are preparing for Stu’s wedding in Thailand. Doug convinces Stu to invite Alan (Zach Galifianakis), which Stu does begrudgingly. They are joined as well by Stu’s future brother-in-law Teddy (Mason Lee), much to Alan’s dismay. After arriving at the resort where the wedding will take place and with Stu fervently opposed to the idea of a bachelor party, the guys decide instead to share one beer by a campfire on the beach. The next day, Alan, Phil and Stu awake in a sleazy hotel room in Bangkok, their minds completely blank on why or how they ended up there. After accounting for Doug’s whereabouts they discover a severed finger bearing Teddy’s Standford ring. Concerned for Teddy’s well-being and wishing to gain knowledge of their activities from the night before, the three men begin their quest to piece together what few clues they have and make sense of another lost night.
This definitely isn’t the first review written for this film and I’m likely to include a lot of the same points as others so I feel it is important to say some positives upfront. As previously stated in my review for Due Date, Director Todd Phillips and whoever he has working as cinematographer on his films (in the case of these two, Lawrence Sher) deserve credit for their locational shooting. Whether it’s the beautiful mountains and beaches in and around the resort location of the wedding or the seedy back streets of Bangkok proper, they are able to capture a very sophisticated look to everything that appears onscreen. As well, there are a number of comedic moments that echo some of the best spots from the first film, inducing out-loud laughter.
This is where the pleasantries end.
By now it seems almost trite to say this but this film is little more than a very slightly tweaked copy of the first film. In fact, here is a list of the similarities that I can remember off the top of my head:
*SPOILER ALERT FROM THIS POINT ON (FOR BOTH FILMS)
The Hangover The Hangover Part II
Doug’s bachelor party and wedding Stu’s “bachelor party” and wedding
Waking up in a trashed hotel in Las Waking up in a trashed hotel in
Vegas Bangkok
The guys find a baby and a tiger in The guys find a monkey in the
the room room
Doug is missing Teddy is missing
Stu has ripped out his tooth Stu has his face tattooed
Mr. Chow is locked in a car trunk Mr. Chow is locked in an ice box
Stu marries a stripper/prostitute Stu has sex with a transvestite
stripper/prostitute
Alan proves useful by playing Alan proves useful by having a
blackjack vision while meditating
The kidnappers have the wrong The “kidnappers” don’t have
Doug Teddy at all
Stu sings and plays a song on a Stu sings and plays a song on a
piano guitar
A happenstance triggers Stu to A happenstance triggers Stu to
Doug’s location Teddy’s location
They speed to the wedding on the They speed to the wedding in a
freeway powerboat
Mike Tyson makes an appearance Mike Tyson makes an appearance
There is absolutely no excuse for the lazy writing in this film. What’s worse, this script was supposedly written by 3 people (Phillips, Craig Mazin and Scot Armstrong). Even if they each only used one finger that’s still one more than is needed to hit “Ctrl” and “C.” The writing process could have even been something as simple as “instead of doing this, have them do that,” but it feels more like they just said “instead of doing this, have them do this.” They did manage to make some changes, however: this time around the characters are much worse people. Not that their moral compasses were always pointing north in the first film, but this film feels like we are witnessing the actions of completely scummy individuals. When Mr. Chow apparently keels over dead after doing a hit of cocaine, it takes the guys all of about a minute to decide they need to dump his body and forget about him. Later, when Stu learns he has had sex with a stripper he is concerned because he cheated on his fiance. When it’s revealed that the stripper is a man and that Stu was the one penetrated, that aspect of the regret seems to selfishly give way to a flight of homophobia, even though he no less cheated. Hell, their entire adventure surrounds the search for Teddy, a 16-year old kid who is obviously injured, but when they find him their only concern is returning in time for the wedding, not the fact that this kid, an accomplished cellist, has been missing a finger for two days, an appendage that will never be recovered and, even if it were, would be past the point of reattaching.
The more I think about this movie the more it upsets me. I can’t even envision precise moments that made me laugh anymore because my judgment is clouded by how shoddy every other aspect of the film is. But maybe that’s the point. Maybe Todd Phillips set out to make the most punk rock film in history. A flick so ballsy that it is practically a carbon copy of the one before it, the ultimate “fuck you” to the complacent studio system and those most responsible for keeping it that way, the audience. He knew that the fans would come out just like they did for the first one, shelling out their hard-earned cash for a sure-fire blockbuster whether it was an utter piece of shit or not. Hell, it would almost make sense coming from a guy who once made a documentary about GG Allin.
Almost.
I give The Hangover Part II 2 bags of Fanta out of 5.
