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Wednesday, May 25, 2011
MOVIE REVIEW
The Hangover Part II
Beat The Bangkok Slowly, To A Sure And Steady
Death
Bradley Cooper (left) as Phil, Zach Galifianakis (background) as Alan and Ed
Helms (foreground) as Stu in "The Hangover Part II", directed by Todd Phillips.
Warner Brothers
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Wednesday,
May 25, 2011
They're back, in another fine mess they've got themselves into. This time
the wacky trio of Phil, Alan and Stu are in Bangkok, Thailand to attend Stu's
wedding. He's marrying a beautiful woman with Thai roots, but before that
happens they will again forget what happened the night before the morning after,
in "The Hangover Part II", Todd Phillips' boisterous, violent and only
sporadically funny comedy sequel, which opens tonight at midnight in theaters
across the U.S. and Canada.
The new film falls desperately short of the freshness and impromptu zeal of Mr.
Phillips' "The
Hangover" (2009). The secret sauce of success for the wildly
hilarious original was its unselfconscious and brazen attitude, with
incorrectness and cameos that were right on the mark. The hijinks went
over the edge and the writers knew when to cry uncle. That is not the case
here, as scenes that are supposed to be funny are instead long and overbaked.
Alas, "Part II" falls into the trap so many sophomore-jinxed sequels do, by
piling on more of the same but going for the jugular with mean-spirited,
excessive jabs, in this case at the city of Bangkok. Over and over again
we hear at-best lukewarm punch lines about the Thai city. The lead trio
relentlessly shout, fight and demean the people and country they visit.
Even a Curtis Mayfield-themed pusher-monkey can't save the film.
Ultimately Mr. Phillips' sequel is a let-down, lazily engineering laughs on the
cheap. The script was apparently worked on (or rushed) soon after the
first film was released. It needed a more thorough work over and new
ideas.
After its relatively funny first half-hour "The Hangover Part II" becomes an
unfunny, knock-down drag-out exercise in endurance and humiliation. Most
of the camaraderie that the "three best friends that anybody could have"
devolves into sniping and screaming at each other in a blinding, madcap frenzy.
The guys had fun together in Las Vegas but despise each other's company here.
This miserable hapless bunch doesn't deserve to be in Thailand.
Only Justin Bartha, as Doug, the missing member of what was a "wolfpack" quartet
in the first film, appears to be having fun. Doug is safely ensconced in a
Thai hotel resort with his wife, away from the trouble that ensues. He's a
wise man.
The new story is significantly weaker than its predecessor, trying things on a
bigger, grander scale -- a scale that only highlights the gaping holes in the
shallow material. "The Hangover Part II" tries to plug those holes with
racial insults, some of which are supplied by Ken Jeong's over-amped Mr. Chow.
Mr. Jeong's deliberation was one of the highlights of "The Hangover". He
was given time to flaunt Mr. Chow and let him make a mark on the film.
"The Hangover Part II" doesn't give him a chance to breathe. Mr. Jeong's
character is rushed, frantic and over the top, the actor-doctor's talents
exhausted and wasted.
The cameos by Paul Giamatti and the returning Mike Tyson are stale. Both
cameos feel tired. There are large amounts of this film that aren't funny,
and the audience assembled to see this sequel stayed mute for large stretches of
it. Unlike the original film, the end credit photo stream here contains
very few if any laughs. Mr. Phillips' sequel reverses its mega-successful
original, becoming an action film with comedy in it.
The comic timing that made the first film so flighty and enjoyable is sorely
missed. "Hangover" writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore are absent, replaced
here by Craig Mazin, Scot Armstrong and Mr. Phillips, who also directed last
year's poor
"Due Date". They waste a great opportunity to use Thailand to
their advantage but contempt, not comedy appears to fuel "The Hangover Part II".
Watching "The Hangover Part II", a joyless experience most of the way, is akin
to watching someone undergo a root canal. It's painful. A train
wreck. I wondered, what is going on and why? Why such violence?
You have to ask yourself: why is it that these men only go haywire and lose
themselves whenever one of them is about to get married? You need not have
seen the first film to know that the new one runs off the rails as an utter
mess, although many of the in-jokes from the first film comprise the bulk of the
humor of "The Hangover Part II".
Granted, Mr. Phillips knows how to present lavish visions and a sense of space
and setting with nicely-lensed establishing shots, but the intimacy and humor so
integral to "The Hangover" fails to light up the expanded landscape. After
the man-made city of Las Vegas, the closer these men get to quasi-nature (ala
Thailand) the crazier they become. Chalk up "The Hangover Part II" as a
huge disappointment, a film hung over and caught on a hangnail.
With: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach
Galifianakis, Jamie Chung, Mason Lee, Jeffrey Tambor, Sasha Barrese, Gillian
Vigman, Sondra Currie, Yasmin Lee, Aroon Seeboonruang, Bryan Callen, Nirut
Sirichanya, Nick Cassavetes.
"The Hangover Part II" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association Of
America for pervasive language, strong sexual content including graphic nudity,
drug use and brief violent images. The film's running time is one hour
and 42 minutes. The film opens across the U.S. and Canada tonight at
midnight.
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