The sequel to last years surprising hit brings back director Todd Phillips and the full cast for a second wild night. Two years after the first movie took place we find Stu (Ed Helms) getting ready to get married and trying his hardest to avoid a second crazy night, but this is a sequel and if it happened in the first one, it’s happening in the second one. The wolf pack is reunited when Alan (Zach Galifianakis), Stu, Phil (Bradley Cooper), and Doug (Justin Bartha) decide to drink out on the beach for the bachelor party along with Stu’s 16 year old future brother-in-law, Teddy (Mason Lee). Stu, Phil, and Alan once again wake up, don’t know where they are, don’t know what happened, and have once again lost one of their members.
When I watched the trailer I knew I was in for a little deja vu, but this was ridiculous. This was an alternate version of the first one, they just took the first movie, put it in a different setting, and just spent two hours trying to see how bad they can get. This was a complete lack of effort or creativity, the plot was identical in every way and the jokes feel like they were just reading the script of the original. There wasn’t a lot of great moments like the first one, and most of the time they were spending most of the time showing someones dick in order to gross you out.
Alan was more annoying than I could handle, he was funny in the first one, but in this one they tried to make him more stupid and more weird and he just turned out being annoying. Another problem I had was why even bring back Doug if he isn’t going to be in the movie again? One of the few bright spots was Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong), he’s where most of the humor is, but I don’t know if I could handle him for the whole movie, I actually thought he was much better in this one than the first one.
I guess if you think The Hangover is the best comedy of all time, then you might like this, but for most of us the thing that was best about The Hangover is that it was a surprise and original. Making a sequel and hyping it up for months just defeats the purpose, I really didn’t like this, and I’m praying they don’t make a Hangover 3, but I’m sure Mike Tyson could use the extra cash.
“This was an alternate version of the first one, they just took the first movie, put it in a different setting, and just spent two hours trying to see how bad they can get. This was a complete lack of effort or creativity, the plot was identical in every way and the jokes feel like they were just reading the script of the original.”
You hit the nail on the head here. To me, the biggest thing this film lacked was any sense of artistic integrity. I have never before seen a sequel that was such a blatant copy of the original. It actually felt more like a remake than a sequel — a remake with the same actors and taking place in a different city, but a remake nonetheless. It was the definition of laziness and selling-out. Everyone involved in the film should be ashamed of themselves. And I agree that they completely assassinated Zach Galifianakis’ character this time around, turning him from a lovable over-grown manchild into an insecure, manipulative, malicious man whose actions have severe consequences for all of his “best friends,” and yet everyone just laughs it off. I sat there for most of the time wondering how I had been convinced to spend money to see a movie I’d already seen for a second time. I certainly won’t be wasting my hard-earned cash on The Hangover Part III.
I completely agree with your review of the Hangover part 2. I did however find the film to be funny, and entertaining. I would say that if you loved the first movie you should be able to find something to like about the sequel. It is a shame that the film lacks the originality of the original, but it did have enough laughs to make it worth watching. I would give it 3 stars.