Don't see it again for the very first time

Rating: 4/10 (30 May 2011)

Mitch Hansch/ movieswithmitch.com
Don't see it again for the very first time...
Let me ask you a couple of questions. Did you like the original "The Hangover"? Did you ever wonder what it would be like if you took that film and put a Bangkok, Thailand green screen over it? If you answered yes to both of these questions, well stranger, boy do I have a film for you. If you realized my second question was sarcastic than goooooood for yoooooooooou (it's hard to write sarcasm).
I answered yes to that first question but not so much to the second, and as I feared "The Hangover Part ll" is nothing more than an unimaginative carbon copy to Todd Phillip's wildly successful 2009 original. By no means is the original a masterpiece, but it was a lot of fun. That fun came from the films mystery element of being right there with the three bewildered men's night of debauchery and trying to figure where the story was going to take you next. This time around the notorious Wolf Pack's ride is raunchier and it's not that you won't laugh, and it's not that you won't cringe from time to time but all of that devious mystery is gone as beat by beat it's paint by numbers in this numbing sequel.
Wanter of the quiet life, Stu (Ed Helms), is getting married to a very nice Thai girl named Lauren (don't look for more female development than that- not one of Todd Phillips strong suits). Making their trip to Thailand for the wedding is the morally challenged Phil (Bradley Cooper), the perpetual bi@%# of the group Doug (Justin Bartha) who's 15 minutes on screen is used for nothing more than to tell us the other guys have done wrong, and the reluctantly invited, socially handicapped Alan (Zach Galifianakis). After almost a shot for shot recreation of the celebration toast, things once again go very awry, as they wake up in a gritty and dirty Bangkok hotel with no recollection of how they got there. Only this time they lost Lauren's 17-year old brother Teddy played by Mason Lee (director Ang Lee's son) with only one of his severed fingers remaining in the room.
Todd Phillip's and crew try to push the envelope as much as they can, which includes Stu and a Thai prostitute. Oh wait, didn't Stu have an encounter with a Vegas prostitute played by Heather Graham in the first film- SO LAZY! Phillip's might see all these recurrences as a love letter to the first film, but to me it appears as much more of a love letter to making money. These are talented actors who have an excellent rapport together. Galifinakas has the funny one-liners for the most part and Ken Jeong makes a hilarious return as Mr. Chow the Chinese gangster.
Phillip is on record saying that he imagines the series ending as a trilogy, let's just hope for the finale he can change things up more than just the location. Lets just hope for the finale he can change things up more than just the location. (get it)
(get "this")
Ephesians 5:18