The first one was way better

Rating: Null/10 (14 July 2011)

"The Hangover Part II" is the perfect example of a movie that was specifically made to cash in on the success of its predecessor. Without any new ideas and following a very similar story, it seems that the producers wanted to play it safe and offer the audience more of the same stuff that made "The Hangover" the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time. What they don't understand is that the first one was successful because it was so original and creative.
I don't think that the film's only problem is the fact that it follows basically the same plot as the first one (other movies have done that and they still managed to be very good – "Evil Dead II" comes to mind, a film that is even better than the original). The simple fact is that even if this film had a totally different story it still wouldn't have been as good as "The Hangover" because it is just not as funny as the first film. One thing that made "The Hangover" a good comedy was the relationship between the three main characters. They still manage to be funny here and there are moments that will definitely make you laugh, but those moments are rather rare in a film that relies more on gross-out moments instead of trying to be particularly intelligent. The people who wrote this film simply weren't trying enough because otherwise they would have done a better job.
The acting is quite good, Zach Galifianakis being the one that stands out. His character (Alan) is very funny and his performance alone saves this film and makes it watchable. On the other hand, I found Ken Jeong's Mr. Chow to be really annoying (he was annoying in the first film as well) and the film would have probably been better had it not been for him.
With the success of this film, the cast and crew will probably return for a third one. They probably won't make the same mistake and they will try to bring something different this time around. "The Hangover Part II" is a lazy film that borrows too much from its predecessor and doesn't quite manage to live up to its expectations.
My rating: 5,5/10