In 2009, a movie called the Hangover opened to an unsuspecting audience. From the director of Old School and Road Trip came a comedy about a bunch of drunk guys who have to live with a hangover to find their friend. True, the initial story was less inspired, but the twists and surprise events made it an immediate hit full of Las Vegas jokes, naked Asians, and strippers.
Somehow, audiences ate that up and it has been knighted as one of the best comedies of the decade, causing unnecessary comparison titles (i.e.: Bridesmaids is the female Hangover) and some of the most insane rental sales on Netflix and Video on Demand in history. If anything, it captured the wacky joy of friendship, even if the characters weren't that great to begin with.
Since, Bradley Cooper has done action movies, Zach Galifiankis has been called over-saturated, Ken Jeong is now on Community and fills the role of bad Asian stereotypes in mainstream comedies... and Ed Helms is the odd man out with only Cedar Rapids and the Office to his name.
There's no denying the success of the first. Catch phrases were launched, satchels became less ironic, and no one, not even director Todd Phillips, has been able to come up with a concept as brilliant.
But, let's just get down to the point, the cast is reunited for the Hangover: Part II, which feels like it takes place right after the last one ended. Stu (Helms) is getting married in Bangkok and wants to get the gang together. Majority of the first act is an expose of "In case you didn't see the Hangover" plot points with lines like "Remember what happened last time?"
In fact, the set up is almost the same, if you just switch Vegas for Bangkok and give Allan (Galifiankis) a bigger chance to say off the wall stuff as the mentally damaged friend. Even Doug (Justin Bartha) is a minimal character who literally phones in most of the movie.
Sure, there are some laughs, but the fun doesn't kick in until act two where everything becomes apparent. The bridesmaid's brother is believed to be kidnapped, the guys are in an unknown village, and there's a monkey in the bathroom wearing a Rolling Stones jacket. What does it all mean?
To spoil it would take away all of the fun of this movie.
However, the last half of the movie may be on a grander scale, but most people will feel like this is just a rehashing of the first movie. It's even confusing how so much could be achieved while intoxicated and over a short span of time. Yet, I stand to believe that if you can suspend belief, this may be one hell of a ride.
If you're complaining that the movie has the same beats (which it does) and that ruins it for you, then you're kind of limiting yourself from the rest of this. There needs to be a drunk night, there needs to be a hangover, there needs to be wacky happenings. The movie doesn't work without it. The characters just aren't developed enough to make it anything more than that. It's a matter of story.
While I cannot say I am a fan of these characters, I do feel that the Hangover: Part II was a slight improvement upon the first. While I feel that the Vegas journey was inspired, there was plenty of Vegas cliches that kept it from being an amazingly broad comedy. Here, there are plenty of Asian tropes, but with a grander scope, there is more of an ability for this to be off the wall and confusing. Instead of a night on the strip, you got a whole town to wonder what happened.
I feel that these characters may become parody if there are to be any more sequels, but here, there is a solid balance of them being assholes and experiencing the effects of it. Right down to the cameos, this feels like a perfect comedy from the 90s where anything goes and the less you expect, the more you get.
This is not to say it is a perfect comedy. The Hangover may have had a more structured and perfect plot, but it felt kind of tied down with the gimmick of "We don't know what happened!" While I don't feel Part II handles the gimmick as well, it at least feels like it's having a lot more fun and gets points just for that. I mean, some of the rehashing works because of call backs, or just that on a grander scale, it seems funnier.
In the end, I think that this is by no means the best off the wall comedy of recent years. In fact, I feel the subject matter of alcoholism is more limited than, say... marijuana, which has brought us Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, a superior film to the Hangover in every way, even if it's less believable. I cannot say I get the success of the Hangover entirely, but it's still proof that decent comedies can be made, even if Todd Phillips can only write them for sexist douche bag characters.
Will there be any hope for the Hangover: Part III? There's a possibility, though by upping the ante each time, they are bound to reach a point of unbelievable scenarios that won't work. I feel that alcohol poisoning is the only way to top it.
Or, just forcing them to live life without convenient escapes in the third act. Imagine if the third one DOESN'T even involve a hangover. That would be something, even if that proves that maybe it's just time to call an AA meeting and get Phillips to make other, possibly better movies.
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