The Hangover Part II

2009's The Hangover was a true lightning in a bottle movie - A little summer comedy with no big stars that went on to first become a word of mouth hit, and then become the most successful R-rated comedy of all time. It deserved all the praise it got. (I was certainly a fan.) What it did not deserve was a sequel. Regardless, The Hangover Part II is here, and is expected to break box office records for the Memorial Day weekend. It it lives up to expectations, expect an equally unnecessary Part III to get the greenlight next week.

There's no denying that The Hangover Part II is an unnecessary sequel. The first movie worked fine on its own, and did not exactly leave any lingering questions. There's also no denying that despite this, the film does have some solid laughs. Nowhere near as much as the first time around, but I did find myself laughing out loud more than once. My rule of thumb in reviewing a comedy is how much did I laugh. In this case, while I did laugh, they were spaced so far between, I can't really recommend that you see it. Oddly enough, this movie had the opposite effect on me that the original did. Whereas with The Hangover, I found myself laughing harder and more frequently the more absurd things got, here I found myself laughing more during the early scenes. The majority of the film feels like a desperate attempt to ape the formula and even some of the same jokes that worked so well the first time around, only ratchet up the raunchy behavior and the gross out gags. Returning director and co-writer, Todd Phillips, is so concerned with topping himself, he oddly forgets to let loose and have fun with his characters.

Despite the return of the original stars, a lot of the charm they displayed the first time around is now gone. Phil (Bradley Cooper), once a party animal looking for a good time, is now a fairly bland lead who is given little to do. Stu, the uptight dentist (Ed Helms), probably has changed the least of the three heroes, and remains likable, thanks to Helms' performance that constantly seems to be teetering on the edge of forced politeness and insanity. Finally, there's Alan (Zach Galifanakis), who came across as an almost lovable man-child in the original, but here his characteristics are so exaggerated and sometimes forced, he comes across as being mentally challenged at times. He still gets some laughs, though, especially when Galifanakis dials down the performance, and goes into deadpan mode, talking about things that make no sense. ("I saw an albino polar bear once...")

The three are reunited for Stu's impending wedding to the lovely Lauren (Jamie Chung). The plan involves a trip to Thailand to meet Lauren's family, who generally view Stu as a disgrace, placing all of their love on Lauren's teenaged younger brother, Teddy (Mason Lee). The guys slip away for a celebratory beer on the beach by a campfire, taking Teddy with them. If you've seen the first movie, you pretty much know what happens next - A night of endless partying follows, and our heroes find themselves sprawled out in a dingy hotel room in Bangkok, with no memory of anything that happened the night before. Teddy is gone (though they find his severed finger lying in a bucket of water), Stu now has a tattoo on his face, Alan is bald, and there's a drug mule monkey following them everywhere they go. Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) makes a return appearance, there's a crime boss (Paul Giamatti) who seems to know what happened that night but isn't talking unless he gets something in return, and the guys end up having to ditch a dead body in an ice machine. You're probably better off not knowing the details about the stripper that Stu spent the night with.

The Hangover Part II still works partly, as there are laughs to be had. Helms and Galifanakis get to stand out in individual scenes (mostly Helms), there are some laughs when the guys are stuck with an elderly monk who has taken a vow of silence, and Mike Tyson returns for another funny cameo appearance. It's what comes between those laughs that makes this a lackluster sequel. The laughs don't come nearly as often. There are long stretches where the movie is amusing enough, but just not that funny. It's never bad, it just fails to get any genuine laughs during these moments. Despite the fact that this film is probably darker and grosser than the first, it oddly feels like it's playing it safe by sticking rigidly to the structure and the jokes that made the original a runaway hit. The element of surprise from before is gone. The setting is different, but a lot of the situations are the same. The monkey, for example, replaces the baby they carried around in the last one. It generally serves the same purpose, but gets fewer laughs.

When The Hangover came out two years ago, it was a rare adult comedy in a sea of summer blockbusters. This year, the sequel is swimming in much more crowded waters. Bridesmaids is already out (and is a much funnier and smarter film), and there are a few other adult comedies hitting later this summer that might take a bite out of this film's popularity. Regardless, The Hangover Part II is not that bad for an unnecessary sequel. I didn't mind seeing it but, unlike the first one, probably won't watch it again.

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