The uninspired sequel part 347!

Rating: 6/10 (27 May 2011)

'THE HANGOVER PART II': Three Stars (Out of Five)
Following the likes of 'GHOSTBUSTERS II' and 'HOME ALONE 2' this sequel is an exact carbon copy of the original with mild variations for setting and time differences. It also plays on the Deja Vu 'it's happening again' formula (used by many unimpressive sequels) for shameless and forced comedic effect (like 'HOME ALONE 2'). Stu, Phil and Allan (Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis reprising the roles that made them famous) are once again completely hungover, missing a buddy and don't have a clue how they got so 'shit faced' or what happened to them. It's once again two evenings prior to one of the three's wedding except this time they're in Thailand and it's the bride's younger brother that's missing. The film plays out almost in step by step formation to the original. Tod Phillips once again directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Craig Mazin and Scot Armstrong (replacing the original two writers). I think the writer change-up might be one of the film's biggest problems because the movie is not only unoriginal but it's not nearly as funny as it's predecessor, with many of the jokes (as well as performances) feeling forced and weak.
This time around Stu is getting married to a young Asian beauty named Lauren (Jamie Chung), who's father completely disapproves of him. At Phil and Doug's (Justin Bartha also reprising his role from the original) insistence Stu invites Alan to his wedding in Thailand at the last minute. This causes problems from the get-go when Alan is immediately intimidated by Lauren's 16 year old brother Teddy (Mason Lee), feeling that he threatens his close friendships with the others. Stu doesn't want anything to jeopardize his ideal wedding so he refuses to have a bachelor party. After agreeing to one drink on the beach with his buddies though things get crazy somehow regardless.
I was a huge fan of the original film, in my opinion it's a 5 star comedy classic (out of 5 stars), so I was especially disappointed with this sequel. I really wanted to like it (like many), so I didn't completely give up on it until I finished watching it. I kept really hoping it might turn itself around but it just didn't work in my opinion. It's not just the fact that it's a lazy duplicate of the original it's the fact that it's just not nearly as funny. The actors feel like they're just going through the motions again at times. I thought Helms was really funny in the original but here he's mostly just annoying. Galifianakis is funny at times but his material also feels the most forced (most of the time). Cooper is the only one that truly stays true to his original character but he's not enough. Although the film has funny moments and reaches new realms of disgusting crudeness the writing just feels uninspired. Phillips' directing would work if the material was fitting of it. The humor has just lost all it's freshness and joy. The filmmakers rely too much on the fact that most viewers are big fans of the original so they think the jokes will work just out of familiarity. They try too hard to recapture the magic of the first film when it's way too soon for that. The nostalgia feel really could have worked for a sequel ten to twenty years later, especially with the characters (and actors) being much older and being too old to be getting blackout wasted and involved in all kinds of drunk hooligan antics. That could be a hilarious sequel and now that I think about it I really hope they do that for the third chapter. Any sequel sooner than that will most likely spell DISAPPOINTMENT once again. Comparing the film to the first movie makes me want to give it something like a two out of five star rating but I know that wouldn't be fair. It's still at least slightly better than your average slapstick comedy film, just extremely disappointing.
Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB9HKWgqhbY