So here’s how it goes, three guys wake up in a hotel room with no recollection of the night before, with obvious signs of misdeeds, including a missing friend. Does any of this sound familiar to you genre fans? Well it should, because it is EXACTLY like the first Hangover movie. The same movie only in Bangkok/Thailand, and this time Stu is the one getting married, Doug’s wife is pregnant and the bride-to-be’s little brother is the one missing. This might sound like good news to some Hangover fans, but this fan was, once again, left unsatisfied.The people behind Hangover 2 followed the same basic principle as On Stranger Tides: i.e., lets give the people what they want, what they’ve loved in the past, try to sell it as something new, and hope they buy it. Well movie fans, this movie junky does not want anything to do with what these moviemakers are trying to sell.
Whatever the reason is, I just did not like this movie. I wanted so badly to love this movie, I stayed up late, to see an early showing, I waited for 2 hours, and I really really wanted to love it, but alas, I did not. None of the actors seemed to be on their a-game either, as Ed Helms, over does it with the squeamish, wimp routine and Bradley Cooper seems like he could careless. Zach Galifianakis, who got most of the good lines, pulls them off well enough, but the writers didn’t stain any muscles trying to give him anything to work with. Something else that bothered me, was the bride-to-be and her Asian family. I really don’t think that Jamie Chung is Taiwanese, although I know Mason Lee is (even if he was born and raised in the United States). It’s just a bit of a pet peeve of mine when Hollywood, takes Black or Asian actors, throws them together and calls them a family, even if they look nothing a like. Though that’s a bit besides the point. . .
Some of the things that I actually liked about Hangover 2; getting the ol’ gang back together, Paul Giamatti and Mike Tyson’s cameos as well as the new addition of Mason Lee’s character. (However small/underwritten the part was, I liked him). I am also a big fan of the extended role of Mr. Chow, he’s used well and, as expected, gets some of the biggest laughs in the movie. To think that Ken Jeong is a licenced medical doctor, still baffles my mind.
It’s hard to say exactly what could have made this movie better. Quiet frankly I can’t remember the last time I saw a sequel that was this lazy. The filmmakers even went as far as to recreate, almost to a tea, some of the scenes from the first one. Opening the movie with a phone call to Tracey. Running around on the roof looking for Teddy, mirroring running on the roof looking for Doug. The moment Stu realizes where the missing person is. . . blah blah blah – Oh and take a guess as to how the movie ends?
Overall, The Hangover Part II, is not as memorable as the first one, there aren’t as many quotable lines, and Bridesmaids was a much better film. This movie earned it’s R rating, but it still managed to feel safe, lazy and tired. As a very wise friend said to me, knowing you are a useless sequel, is not an excuse to be one. So in end the end, I will let this week’s movie slide with a C, for sometimes making me laugh, but a (–) for just not trying hard enough. I laughed, I groaned, and then, by the time I got to bed, I had completely forgotten about the movie I had just seen. D
[Side Note: Are we all just going to forget that this kid does not have a finger?]
A Movie Junky's Blog 