The Hangover, Part II | Film Review

Story by Mitch McCann 

| Published May 31, 2011

The argument could be made that following a prequel whose ticket sales nearly hit half a billion and became the highest selling comedy with an ‘R’ rating ever, that the Hangover sequel just could not hold up to its predecessor. However, the argument could also be made that Hangover 2 was made following a tidal wave of fan and studio pressure that director Todd Phillips and his relatively new to the limelight cast just weren’t used to, making it mainly a quick buck and hopeful summer smash.

Amidst mumbles that the movie is “just like the first one,” it appears audiences can’t see that Phillips et. al., did exactly what they were told: took the first movie and turned it upside down, shook it out, and filled it back up again with “different” bits.

All your basic parts are still there: the ‘Set Up’, the raucous and unspeakable ‘Night Before’ (again courtesy of Alan), and although I would argue that the anticipated ‘Wake Up’ scene was somewhat disappointing, with the guys discovering some rather cheap laughs - that fact holds true for most of the movie. Stu’s Song for Part II only furthers the idea that both Hangovers, save Vegas for Bangkok, could have identical chapter names.

Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis are both well-versed enough to when the comedy ship is sinking, both doing their best to keep audiences laughing (and succeeding.) Sadly, Ken Jeong’s performance as the fan-favorite “Mr. Chow” was largely distilled back to his famous ‘Chow-isms’ (despite being given a somewhat larger role this time around) and Bradley Cooper’s role as Phil seemed to take quite a hit as well.

Expecting to see the guest stars and lesser members of the first Hangover take more presence in the sequel, it struck as odd that Phillips seemed set on sticking to his main three - quickly dispelling any hope White Doug (Justin Bartha) might somehow be involved this time around, while also leaving nothing of Stu’s brother-in-law and newcomer ‘Teddy’ (played by Mason Lee) but a finger, and letting Chow frost over for a large chunk of the film. Even the strange slip of Paul Giamatti as Kingsley and the return of Mike Tyson offered little to the overall value of the sequel. Sufficiently leaving almost every viewer with a stale taste in their mouth and a desire never to visit exotic Bangkok.