The Hangover Part II (2011)

May 26, 2011January 5, 2018 Dave Aedin Micks, Andrew Howard, Bradley Cooper, Bryan Callen, Channon Roe, Craig Mazin, Dylan Boyack, Ed Helms, Gillian Vigman, Jamie Chung, Jeffrey Tambor, Jon Lucas, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, Mason Lee, Michael Berry Jnr., Mike Tyson, Nick Cassavetes, Nirut Sirichanya, Paul Giamatti, Penpak Sirikul, Sasha Barrese, Scott Armstrong, Scott Moore, Sondra Currie, Tanner Maguire, The Hangover Part 2, The Hangover Part 2 Review, Todd Phillips, William A. Johnson, William Jiang, Yasmin Lee, Zach Galifianakis

Summary:Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha) travel to exotic Thailand for Stu’s wedding. After the unforgettable bachelor party in Las Vegas, Stu is taking no chances and has opted for a safe, subdued pre-wedding brunch. However, things don’t always go as planned. What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens in Bangkok can’t even be imagined.

Year: 2011

Australian Cinema Release Date: 20th September, 2001

Australian DVD Release Date: 26th May, 2011

Country: USA

Director: Todd Phillips

Screenwriter: Craig Mazin, Scott Armstrong, Todd Phillips, Jon Lucas (characters), Scott Moore (characters)

Cast: Sasha Barrese (Tracy), Justin Bartha (Doug), Michael Berry Jnr. (Vladi), Dylan Boyack (Doug – 12 Years Old), Bryan Callen (Samir), Nick Cassavetes (Tattoo Joe), Jamie Chung (Lauren), Bradley Cooper (Phil), Sondra Currie (Linda Garner), Zach Galifianakis (Alan), Paul Giamatti (Kingsley), Ed Helms (Stu), Andrew Howard (Nikolai), William Jiang (Chow – 12 Years Old), Ken Jeong (Mr. Chow), William A. Johnson (Stu – 12 Years Old), Mason Lee (Teddy), Yasmin Lee (Kimmy), Tanner Maguire (Phil – 12 Years Old), Aedin Mincks (Alan – 12 Years Old), Todd Phillips (Mr. Creepy), Channon Roe (Stefan Lefrontier), Nirut Sirichanya (Fohn), Penpak Sirikul (Joi), Jeffrey Tambor (Sid Garner), Mike Tyson (himself), Gillian Vigman (Stephanie)

Runtime: 102 mins

Classification:MA15+

SUBCULTURE MEDIA/THE GOOD THE BAD THE UGLY FILM SHOW REVIEWS/RATINGS OF ‘THE HANGOVER II’:

David Griffiths: The original Hangover movie will go down in history as one of the funniest films of all time, but like so many comedies in the past it is unfortunate that while The Hangover Part II is funny it doesn’t go anywhere near being as funny as the original, thanks largely to the fact that the writers seemed to stick too close to the original and not what to do something…well…creative!

This time around it is Stu (Ed Helms – Cedar Rapids, High Road) who is getting married and the wolf-pack find themselves in Thailand. Soon Stu, Phil (Bradley Cooper – Limitless, Brother’s Justice) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis – Due Date, Dinner For Schmucks) find themselves stuck in the middle of another nightmare. With his future father-in-law already hating him Stu is horrified to learn that the wolf-pack have lost his future brother-in-law, Teddy (Mason Lee – Chosen, The Wedding Banquet) somewhere in Bangkok, but have somehow met up with Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong – TV’S Community & American Dad). The race is on to find Teddy and get Stu to the wedding on time.

Surely director Todd Phillips (Due Date, The Hangover) must have realised that this script was a little too close to the original, I mean without giving anything away it is the same old story with some new jokes and new characters thrown in for good measure. Yet the strange thing about The Hangover Part II is that you will still find yourself giggling like a schoolgirl (if not laughing out loud until you cry), although it would have been nice to have had a film that was at least a little different story-wise. I should also possibly warn people that the jokes this time around are crasser than the original so if you are likely to be offended you are probably best advised to give The Hangover Part II a wide birth.

While some praise the three actors who make up the wolf-pack it is pretty clear that is the scenes that star Zach Galifianakis that are the most memorable… which just goes to prove that he is the best comedic actor that is doing the rounds in Hollywood at the moment, he is a classic! Bradley Cooper once again shows that he is equally as good as drama and comedy while Ken Jeong also impresses… thank goodness we can now forget about his performance in Vampires Suck.

If you want than you shouldn’t miss The Hangover Part II, just don’t expect anything remarkably different this time around… in fact to be safe just check your brain in at the Candy Bar on your way in.

David Griffiths’ The Hangover Part II review originally from Helium:

Congratulations Todd Phillips you’ve managed to run one of the most promising movie franchises into the ground and let it die out with barely a whimper. Phillips set the comedy world ablaze with his 2009 film ‘The Hangover’ – it was fresh, it was out there and above all it did what very few modern day comedies do… it made people. Then came the sequel, and it was obvious that Phillips couldn’t replicate the same success he had with the first. He used the same basic plot but went for over the top gutter humour to get laughs and that in return put fans offside.

Now Phillips returns to finish off the franchise with the third instalment. It seems that he did listen to his fans and not use the same plotline, as the film’s promotions hint at there is no bachelor party kicking things off, he also listened about having no gutter humour… the sad thing is though what he is ended up with is a below par ‘crime’ film that barely has any humour at all.

It’s no secret that this film was always going to centre around Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and the film opens with Stu (Ed Helms), Doug (Justin Bartha) and Phil (Bradley Cooper) being left responsible for taking Alan to a retreat after a run of his medication has seen him go completely off the rails.

Sadly though the trip to the retreat is cut short when the Wolf Pack find themselves run off the road by henchmen working for stereotypical gangster, Marshall (John Goodman) who takes Doug hostage and orders the others to bring him Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) who owes him $21 million.

It is hard to fathom exactly what Todd Phillips was aiming to do with this film. The humour really feels like it has been sapped completely out of the film, and it ends up becoming a virtual crime drama that doesn’t really ever excel in that genre either. Gone are Mike Tyson’s tiger and Thai shemales and along with are gone the laughs… you know something is very, very wrong when a scene consisting Zach Galifianakis and Melissa McCarthy become cringe worthy rather than garnish any comedy gold.

Fans of ‘The Hangover’ franchise really do have the right to feel a little ripped off by this film. Because the biggest insult to anyone that has sat through the boring parts of the film is the fact that the scenes during the credits are the funniest of the film… now only if Mr. Phillips had decided to start the film there instead.

Sadly, the cast are the big losers (aside from the fans) with ‘The Hangover Part III’ are the cast. Zach Galifianakis does what he can to try and lift the film but poor Bradley Cooper is left floundering with a script that doesn’t really call for Phil to do much at all. As previously mentioned Melissa McCarthy is massively underused as is Ken Jeong who has shown with his work on ‘Community’ that he is actually capable of reaching some pretty good comedy heights.

Sadly, it seems that Todd Phillips really ran out of ideas for ‘The Hangover’ franchise and as a result this final instalment is a ho-hum affair that is largely a disappointment to all who have loved the previous films.

You can also read another ‘The Hangover Part II’ review by David Griffiths on The Helium Entertainment Channel.

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