Let’s get this out of the way immediately: Lightning doesn’t strike twice. “The Hangover” came out of nearly nowhere, bringing along a fat guy, a geeky guy and one (not well known) hot guy, to become the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time. And it deserved the accolade. “The Hangover” had a clever premise — an out-of-control bachelor party the audience never witnesses and the participants never remember — executed flawlessly. It was one of the most outrageously funny films of the last decade.
Warner Bros. had a feeling it had a hit on its hands. The studio greenlighted a sequel before the original even hit theaters. Now, “The Hangover Part II” isn’t as good as the original, which was nearly sui generis. But it’s awfully fun. Who wouldn’t want to hang out with the Wolfpack for a couple more hours?
| On screen |
| ‘The Hangover Part II’ |
| 3.5 out of 5 stars |
| Stars: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms |
| Director: Todd Phillips |
| Rated: R for pervasive language, strong sexual content including graphic nudity, drug use and brief violent images |
| Running time: 102 minutes |
Alan (Zach Galifianakis) certainly does. The clueless man-child wheedles himself an invitation to Stu’s wedding, which is set to take place in his fiancee’s native Thailand. Dentist Stu (Ed Helms) learned something from Doug’s wedding: Bachelor parties aren’t a good idea where these guys are concerned. But schoolteacher Phil (Bradley Cooper) insists he at least have one beer with the guys before the big day, on the beach of this beautiful island resort. The trio wakes up the next morning in Bangkok — with no memory of what went down and missing one of their crew, the fiancee’s genius kid brother.
“It’s happened again,” Phil admits in a call to the resort. He looks at the guys. “Check your pockets. You know the drill.”
That’s one of the smartest things director Todd Phillips and his co-writers have done here: Admit — and embrace — the absurdity of disaster striking again. You can feel it throughout the film, as Phil walks around nonchalantly with a little monkey dressed like a roadie on his shoulders. There’s nowhere in America that could top the craziness of Vegas, but there’s perhaps nowhere in the world that could top the iniquity of Bangkok. There are plenty of laughs to be had from the outrageous situations in which the guys find themselves.
All three members of the Wolfpack are in top form — the original, and this sequel, succeed simply because of their talents. (Phillips keeps the focus on the trio by giving Doug (Justin Bartha) a reason to have stayed behind.)
Ken Jeong, one of the funniest guys in Hollywood, is back as Mr. Chow, while Paul Giamatti makes a welcome appearance as one of the many Americans taking advantage of what’s known as one of the world’s most licentious cities.
There are some absurdities just too hard to believe — one character loses something crucial to his career without much concern, while another turns out to have gone through something he certainly would have felt the next morning. (Also unbelievable is the fact that Cooper and Galifianakis have the same hairstylist, but credits don’t lie.)
But watching along and retracing the steps of the fat guy, the geeky guy and the hot guy will likely turn out to be one of the purest pleasures of the summer.
