A film stooped so far into stupidity that it never had room for Mel Gibson

Rating: 3/10 (23 June 2011)

Two years after the first film and the wolf pack is back again with Stu (Ed Helms) preparing to marry Lauren (Jamie Chung) in Thailand. Her conservative father disapproves of Stu and doesn't consider him a proper doctor. Both Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Dug (Justin Bartha) are also disappointed that Stu has opted not have a proper bachelor party. Stu is reluctant to invite Alan (Zack Galifianakis) to the wedding, even though he has been waiting eagerly for the pack to reunite. Stu quickly caves in and the group travels to Thailand together. Tagging along with them this time is Lauren's gifted younger brother Teddy (Mason Lee). One night on a beach in Thailand the boys, including Teddy, decide to have a drink together. Stu, Phil and Alan wake up together the next morning and find themselves in a sweaty Bangkok hotel. Teddy is missing, someone's finger is left in the room, Alan's head has been shaved, there's a monkey jumping around and Stu has a real tattoo on his face. On top of this, they discover that Alan invited Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) to party with them the night before. The boys set off to uncover what happened and to find Teddy before the wedding.
The Hangover Part II is a film stooped so far into stupidity that it never had room for Mel Gibson. Originality, or a lack of, is the least of director Todd Phillips problems here. The film starts reasonably, with Stu showing his reluctance because of what happened in the first picture. It looks as though he might have learnt something from his previous experience. Could this be a strand of intelligence? That strand is quickly chewed up and spat out because everything else here works to appeal, very strictly, to the lowest common denominator. The Hangover (2009) earned a lot of mileage from the freshness of its characters and their distinct personalities. But this entry suffers terminally from sequel syndrome: there's no change or development in the characters because of the studio's need to recycle what worked once before. We gave the first film the benefit of the doubt because its characters promised this to be a one off adventure, never to be spoken of again. But what sort of message does it send now when a character has his finger cut off, wakes up in a lift and says that he feels good even though he doesn't remember anything? Alcoholism pollutes the world as devastating as any drug today but here is a mainstream film that comfortably celebrates idiocy by letting its characters off with a laughably soft and irresponsible finale. The plot is already hopelessly illogical but narrative points like the riot, the severed finger (hilarious?) and Stu's tattoo are weightless and trivial because in the end who cares, so long as these yahoos had a good time.
Taking the film on pure entertainment value and Part II is pitifully dull. Although it insists on recycling a number of plot contrivances, it lacks any particularly memorable set pieces from the first film and there's little joy to be found in the dialogue. The colourful quips from the first entry are gone and the film is more puerile than I ever remember the series being. The ultra lowbrow humour, involving masturbation, sodomy and racial stereotypes, has no role other than to excite teenage boys so they can collectively cry 'ewww' together. There's also a worthless car chase that doubles as a shootout but the scene involving a transsexual prostitute is a disturbing new low for films of this kind. This was never going to be an actor's film but on a comedic level the performances can do little to spark the limp comedy. Alan just seems to trot out dumb lines and Stu's shrieking is noisy and embarrassing. In a minute role a bloated Paul Giamatti has little to work with. And Mr. Chow is doing his very best to find a place on a list for one of the most obnoxious characters in cinematic history. And on that character there's more than just a touch of racism about the contrast between fun loving Americans, who are just out for a good time and the way Asians are represented as either ultra conservatives, dangerous or just freaks. Part III of this dwindling series is apparently already in the works. There's never been a better time to become a teetotaller.