Hangover I with a new location

Rating: 4/10 (12 June 2011)

I expected more out of Todd Phillips.
The Hangover (2009) was hilarious, Due Date (2010), was funny but not as much.
The Hangover Part II is literally the same movie with the same plot points as Hangover I - phone call from Phil (Bradley Cooper) saying there's no wedding, flashback to the pre-bachelor party events, awkward/hilarious wake up scene (someone's missing!), wandering around city in question, discovering that Alan (Zach Galifianakis) messed up, more close calls, a wedding, pictures during the credits. The missing person in question is still in the hotel, although they do check the roof.
The sequel is seedier (it's Bangkok), but uncomfortably dark. There are plainly sad and depressing moments. Unlike the first movie, where the idea that Doug (Justin Bartha) might be dead is humorous, it's not here. There's so much talk of murder and death that the humor of the movie slips out.
Sure there are funny moments - when Stu (Ed Helms) in a diner before the trip covers his cup with a napkin - "so nobody roofies me." Galifianakis is funny, although not as funny as in part one, but he gets us through. Ken Jeong returns for a few scenes as Mr. Chow, but the movie is so familiar much of the fun is gone.
It is beautifully choreographed though - Bangkok has never been so well-displayed, so beautiful and so dangerous, I just wish the movie had lived up to its promise.
4/10