The Hangover Part II (2011) review

(6/10)

I thought this would be a dreadful, unfunny carbon copy; it's a decent, somewhat funny carbon copy.

PLOT:The pack of Doug (Justin Bartha), Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), and Alan (Zach Galifinakis) reunite two years later when Stu marries the love of his life, a Thai girl named Lauren. The crew travels along with Lauren's 16-year-old doctor brother, Teddy (Mason Lee) to their homeland to get married. The five guys decide that night to take in a couple of beers and roasted marshmallows, well aware of what happened last time. When they wake up that morning, Alan is bald, Stu has a tattoo, there's a monkey in the trashed room, they're lost in Bangkok, and Teddy has gone missing this time, for Doug went back early. Now the same three must go on a recap of the night's previous events to find Teddy and patch things up in whatever way is needed. The plot is an almost direct copy of the first film set in a different location with different twists. If not for the twists, it wouldn't be anything too good Even the twists are similar (tiger-to-monkey, tooth-to-tattoo, etc.)!



ACTING:The acting was actually pretty good. The leads do just as good a job as they did in the first. Cooper was his same jerky character, Stu was his same geeky character, and Galifinakis was actually a little better as the awkward weirdo of a character this time around. He wasn't as charming, but he better acted the role. The other shiners besides the main cast in here were Ken Jeong as Chow and Paul Giamatti as Kingsley. Jeong always shines in his role as the crazy Chinese criminal and Paul Giamatti is almost always good anywhere.

SCORE:The soundtrack is similar to the first one, filled with gritty country and metal songs from artists such as Danzig, and hip-hop party songs from artists such as Kanye West. The soundtrack was good, but it was similar to the first one as well.



OTHER CONTENT:Besides being a complete copy of the first movie, this also suffered from a bit of laugh deprivation. The first one was uniquely funny and that's what made it special. This one is uninspired and pulls from the darkest cracks in the barrel to get its laughs. Nevertheless, more than half of the jokes did succeed in making me laugh, but they were dark and crude to the max. Because of this, most of the fun and joy from the first one doesn't transfer to this one. This installment is definitely a dark comedy and raunchfest and not a fun, light-hearted party like the first. Despite the flaws, this is worth seeing for the newer laughs and similarities to the first one.

OVERALL,an ok comedy with a copied plot, great acting, mood-fitting score, darker jokes, lessened joy, and uninspiration, but it is still worth a watch.