Day 37 - The Hangover Part II

The Hangover Part II (2011) directed by Todd Phillips

Intro Story:
Funny story, sort of. I'm in my seat waiting for the movie to begin. As expected, the crowd is loud and rambunctious, full of teenagers and twenty-somethings ready to get their laugh on, when suddenly a security guard comes in and looks at a row of teenagers near the front. It then occurred to me that this movie is rated R and these kids should not be in here. It's been so long since I've had to worry about sneaking into movies, but I do remember watching American Pie in theaters all those years ago and being mildly nervous about getting caught. I didn't realize that people actually went into the the theater to check though. I thought once you were in, you were gold. Anyways, the guard tells this entire row to get up and a dozen or so kids slowly get up and shuffle their way out of the theater. I can't say for certain, but I bet one of them was crying in shame. It was kind of funny to watch, but made me sad at the same time. One, there were at least twelve of them in this group. Even if you included my immediate family, I don't think I could get twelve people together for anything, let alone a movie. I have trouble finding one person to go to the movies with sometimes. Two, which is somewhat related to one, I am getting old. Three, it got me to thinking just how pervasive popular culture can be. The Hangover Part II, like the recently released Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, could basically be the worst thing ever and people will still watch. They have to watch. Hell, even I have to watch in fear of being left behind. I must know what the wolf-pack will do next!

On to the actual movie:
I'll be honest, I wasn't the biggest fan of the original Hangover. It was funny, but not that funny, at least not enough to give it its official bro status among everyone my age. But it was fresh and fun, filled with outrageous situations and an absurd plot. So how do you follow up a hugely popular adult comedy based on people recovering from a bachelor party hangover? Do it all over again.

You got to give credit to director Todd Phillips for knowing what made the first movie so successful and trying to give his audience exactly what it wants, so he made sure to carefully follow the premise of the original in this one. The problem is that he spends so much effort trying to invoke the memories of the original that he forgets to add anything new in the sequel. Too often they made references to the the first movie meant to get a reaction that I found some of the laughter forced. While there are certainly outrageous moments meant to top some of the gags in the original, they aren't nearly as fresh and the plot points are more tired than funny. And most importantly, this movie isn't anywhere close to as funny as the original and it makes you realize just how shallow the whole premise is.

Zach Galifianakis was arguably the secret ingredient to the first movie in his performance as Alan, who to put it bluntly, is kind of an idiot. But those exact same qualities that made him so endearing in the original turns against him here as his schtick grows a little stale. It's one thing to be dumb, but you also have to charming, otherwise you're just annoying. Bradley Cooper, as Phil, is too cool to have anything really embarrassing happen to him and isn't really funny enough to carry jokes, a problem I had with him in the first movie as well. He doesn't really add much to the comedic formula. It seems his entire role in this movie is to look bewildered and exclaim "What the f*ck?!" over and over. Ed Helms, as Stu, is quite good and the best gags are deservingly saved for him.

Also, The Hangover Part II actually starts off way too slowly. It takes a seemingly excruciatingly long time to set up the story with few laughs to support the weight.

I think even the die hard fans of the original will have to agree with me that Part II is at least slightly disappointing. Despite following the formula of its predecessor, it fails to spark the same magic or retain the same interest throughout. There isn't one thing that this movie does better than the original. Certainly there are funny moments; you may even call this movie funny, but so are clowns, and they're horrible. If you want real adult style comedy in the same vain, you should check out Kristen Wiig in the much funnier Bridesmaids while it's still out.


Grade: C