One Messed Up Movie

Rating: 6/10 (12 June 2011)

The sequel to the hit comedy The Hangover is a sometimes disturbing, but often funny film. Director Tod Phillips takes his characters to Bangkok this time; to celebrate the wedding of Stu (played by Ed Helms), the dentist from the first film. The movie gets repetitive at times, but it serves as an enjoyable summer comedy.
The plot is essentially a repeat of the first movie with the three guys waking up in a hotel room, not knowing what happened the night before. This time, Stu's soon-to-be brother in law has gone missing, leaving nothing behind except his finger. The movie has Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper, and Zach Galifinakis running through the streets of Bangkok looking for the brother and trying to find out why Stu has a Mike Tyson tattoo on his face.
The movie is very funny. There are some extremely disturbing moments that are there for no reason than to simply out do the original film, but other moments are genuinely hilarious. The Asian drug lord from the first film, Chow, shows up, and the guys search the city to find their friend, with no avail except the ominous answer: "Bangkok has him now".
With a new team of scriptwriters, The Hangover Part II spends far too much time referencing the original. It's as if they don't believe the audience ever saw the first one. And the way the characters talk about their Vegas trip serves as a thinly veiled reminder of how good everyone thought The Hangover was. The parallels between this movie and the first are not really fun; it just seems that the script writers took the easy way out. It's when the film goes off in new directions (going to a monastery, the cameo by Paul Giamatti) that really get the laughs.
Although the movie suffers from major nostalgia of the first installment, many moments of The Hangover Part II are funny enough to keep things interesting. Director Tod Phillips plans on making a third film in this series, and one can only hope the plot won't be so repetitive. But for now, this movie gets the job done.
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