In the words of Phil (Bradley Cooper), “It’s happened againâ€. That’s right the boys from “The Hangover†are back in “The Hangover IIâ€. In this one, Stu (Ed Helms) is about to get married and he wants none of the events from the first bachelor outing to happen at his wedding, so he decides to gather the guys for an afternoon brunch instead. Stu’s wedding is going to be held in Thailand, where his fiance’s parents are from and he plans on everything going smoothly this time around. So Stu along with Phil, Doug (Justin Bartha), and their wives, and some convincing on their parts to let Alan (Zach Galifianakis) come as well, they all head to Thailand. On the first night there, the guys decide to go to the beach at the resort and have a beer and a toast to Stu’s upcoming nuptials. Stu’s fiancee Lauren (Jamie Chung), requests that the guys take her 16 year old Stanford graduate brother, Teddy (Mason Lee) along with them for the male bonding.
The next morning the guy’s wake up with yet another hangover in a sleazy hotel room in Bangkok. This time around, they have no idea as to the whereabouts’ of Lauren’s little brother Teddy. All that is left of Teddy is his finger, and the guys don’t remember a thing as to what happened the night before. Now they must try and piece together the events of the night before, to find Teddy before Stu’s wedding which is just two days away.
This was a highly anticipated sequel to the blockbusting original which was crowned the highest grossing “R†rated comedy of all time. Just to throw in some stats about the opening weekend’s success. Hangover 2 has achieved the best domestic box office opening ever for a comedy. It also had the best five day opening of any other “R†rated movie, grossing $137.4 million, beating out “The Matrix†which grossed $134.3 million in its first five day release. The last statistic is that it also captured the fourth best opening ever for a Memorial Day weekend. The movie definitely deserved it. It was just as hilarious, if not more hilarious than the first one. I’ve read some other reviews that say the movie copies a lot from the original, and yes it does have the same formula. So what! The movie is hands down the funniest movie, since its predecessor. I laughed just as hard in this one as I did in the original. This time around the atmosphere was a little darker and raunchier, and that’s what made it different than the original. So the similarities to the first one had different outcomes, and that in itself gave this one its own identity.
One stand out performance came from Ken Jeong, who plays Mr. Chow, previously from the original Hangover. In this one he joins the guys in their night of debauchery, and definitely has a bigger role this time around. Every time he is on the screen it’s too hysterical results. Just the voice alone and his character’s flamboyant ways will have you laughing in your seats. Zach Galifianakis was on top of his game in this one as well. I think he was even funnier in this one than in the original. Paul Giamatti also has a role in this film as a Bangkok gangster named “Kingsleyâ€, who has criminal dealings with Mr. Chow. Then of course the movie wouldn’t be complete, without a cameo by Mike Tyson. The film was outrageously funny, and even had a pretty cool car chase scene thrown in. I for one enjoyed this movie extremely. I gave this movie 3 ½ buddies out of 4. It was like catching up with old friends, but of course I wouldn’t want to party with these guys, their totally party animals. The film ran 1 hour and 50mins. It was rated R for pervasive language, strong sexual content including graphic nudity, drug use and brief violent images. It was written by Todd Phillips, Scot Armstrong, and Craig Mazin, using characters source material from Jon Lucas, and Scott Moore (III). It was directed by Todd Phillips. The movie was produced by Green Hat Films, Legendary Pictures, Inc. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
I don’t see anything wrong with a little bachelor party forgetfulness. Ezo
Next movie reviewed: X-Men: First Class
