Blogorium *ahem* Review: The Hangover Part II

I fully admit that I'm borrowing this concept verbatim from Outlaw Vern's review of The Stepfather remake, but for there were a few people who heard me say "The Hangover Part II is the same movie" and thought that was a good thing. I guess it could be if you want to pay $10 to see something you can get from Redbox for a dollar, plus popcorn and all the other accouterments, but to prove my point, here's my original review of The Hangover, amended to reflect the same movie The Hangover Part II.

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The Hangover The Hangover Part II won't cure diseases, or bolster world peace. It's not likely to make many "top" lists, when "serious" and the "meaningful" films are to be had, but so what? The Hangover The Hangover Part II is a comedy that sets out to entertain, offend, and periodically shock you. And that it does very pretty well, in addition to being quite slightly less funny.

Forgive me if the Cap'n is late to the party. It is a well known fact that as much as I'd like to get out and see films during their actual release, I rarely do. To remedy this, I do attempt whenever possible to watch them on the fancy tv with the fancy picture and sound hookups. This part is mostly irrelevant as I obviously saw the movie yesterday and everything the follows is pretty much accurate. I even leave my phone on for that "authentic" movie theatre atmosphere. Normally speaking, it makes up for not seeing it with others in a darkened auditorium*, but I do feel I cheated myself out by not seeing The Hangover The Hangover Part II with others.


  If anyone at this point doesn't already know the plot of The Hangover The Hangover Part II, I will detail it in brief: this time, Doug (Justin Bartha) Stu (Ed Helms) is getting married, but before he does so his friends are taking flying with him to Vegas Bangkok for a blow out reserved bachelor party (that actually happens in an IHOP in the U.S.). The friends in question are school teacher Phil (Bradley Cooper), dentist Stu (Ed Helms) Doug (Justin Bartha) and soon-to-be brother-in-law invited against Stu's wishes Alan (Zach Galifianakis). Rather than seeing the bachelor party, the audience is introduced to the aftermath, as the very hung over and completely confused Stu, Phil, and Alan try to retrace their party trajectory. See, they lost Doug Teddy, Stu's soon-to-be-brother-in-law, and Teddy's dad already hates Stu who is getting married very soon.

Along the way, they run into escort / stripper Jade (Heather Graham) Kimmy (Yasmin Lee), who Stu married at some point had sex with / is a transsexual, a very not quite as naked  Chow (Ken Jeong), another Doug (Mike Epps) a tattoo artist (Nick Cassavetes), and Mike Tyson. What any of these people may have to do with a stolen police car a missing finger, a tiger drug dealing monkey, a baby Buddhist Monks, and roofies is up for you to figure out. Also, Stu seems to be missing a tooth have Mike Tyson's tattoo on his face. These, and other debaucheries come to light over the 108(ish) minute unR-rated Theatrical cut of The Hangover.

Early reviews indicated that the film was lacking on consistent laughs almost exactly the same movie, to the degree that the cast keeps saying things like "I can't believe we did this AGAIN!" - a point I disagree with - but compensated for very big gags jokes about trannies and boners strategically placed throughout the film. While most of the reveals as to how or why such strange things happened during the bachelor party are the source of the biggest laughs, I'm going to side with a more consistent mostly the same comic approach to the film, largely from character moments. Director Todd Phillips (Old School) hit the jackpot with the combination of Cooper, Helms, and Galifianakis. You could not put three more different people together, but they have a chemistry that sells the rampant absurdity of the story.


Cooper manages to make Phil, a complete asshole who starts the film stealing money from field trip funds a prescription pad from Stu's office, a reasonably likable dude by the end of the film. Ed Helms begins The Hangover as a henpecked loser dominated by Melissa (Rachael Harris) pretty much the same milquetoast dude as in the last film, and grows out of that "type" in a believable way to embrace his "dark side" for reasons that aren't really believable. You can actually buy his final scene with Heather Graham the guy who plays his fiance's Dad as something nothing that could happen between those characters.

Galifianakis runs away with the movie, partially because Alan is a walking non sequitur transformed into a total sociopath. Half of what Alan says doesn't make sense, and the way he makes connections or expresses whatever dementia going on inside that brain carries the humor past big joke set pieces. I was personally fond of the way that the film addresses some of his off hand comments but not others (like why he's not allowed near schools or Chuck E Cheeses). There's also a ridiculous payoff for a Rain Man joke earlier in the film that works because Galifianakis sells it so well. Well okay, Alan is actually more obnoxious at the beginning of the film which doesn't help things.

In the interest of keeping this review short, I won't mention all of the great supporting parts from Jeffrey Tambor, Rob Riggle, Matt Walsh, Paul Giamatti, Bryan Callen, Mike Epps, and particularly I guess Mike Tyson, who has a much better scene than just that is like the Phil Collins moment in the trailer, except this time he sings "One Night in Bangkok" at Stu's wedding. I'm not at all surprised that a sequel is in the works inevitable for The Hangover The Hangover Part II, because the combination of Cooper, Helms, Galifianakis (and, to a lesser extent without spoiling anything Bartha**), is too good to pass up revisiting the line for the midnight show was ridiculous when I was leaving Bridesmaids and people are going to pay a ton of money for something they already saw. I wouldn't mind seeing didn't see more of Heather Graham in a this sequel, as her character is criminally underused in the film, aside from a third-act con game in the casino she either asked for more money or was busy or something.

There is one complaint I must register with The Hangover The Hangover Part II, and it is a matter of personal disagreement. The Dan Band, who Phillips also used in Old School, show up near the very end of the film, and are featured in such a way that it nearly derailed my enjoyment of the entire film. I just don't like that group, and having them singing a lounge version of 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" isn't going to change that. the fact that it's really just The Hangover all over again, except in Bangkok. You can figure out almost immediately where Teddy is and everything else that happens is clearly misdirection.Why? Because you ALREADY SAW THIS MOVIE! Otherwise, The soundtrack the music alternates between bachelor party appropriate and inspired (like the use of Danzig's "Thirteen Black Hell" to open the film play over the opening credits).

If you're like the Cap'n and somehow slow to pick up on the universally positive buzz generally "meh" buzz that nevertheless has people turning out for The Hangover The Hangover Part II, now's as good a time as any to catch yourself up. I doubt you'll regret it, unless you offend easily or really like babies monkeys that smoke cigarettes.



* Please don't fail to note that I've been sharing excerpts of a paper I wrote extolling the virtues of seeing films theatrically. The irony is not lost on me, I assure you.
** It was not until writing this that I checked IMDB to figure out why Justin Bartha looked so familiar. Turns out he was the "nerdy" character in National Treasure. His part in The Hangover The Hangover Part II is enough of a departure that I never made the connection.