There are two things you need to know about Lauren’s father. First of all, he hates Stu. He hates that this inoffensive “white rice” mush of a man is marrying his daughter and he would stop this wedding if he could. Secondly, he loves his son Teddy, whom he showers with an abrasive and strict command, pushing the boy to become a brilliant cellist and future doctor against his reluctant will. After Lauren’s father gives a particularly wounding speech at the rehearsal dinner, Stu’s best friend Phil opts to take the guys out for a beer on the beach. The next morning, Phil, Stu, and Alan wake up in a hotel room somewhere in Bangkok, with a monkey, a face tattoo, and the missing Teddy’s ring finger sitting in a bowl of water. The guys have no memory of what happened the night before, and their only hope at quickly catching up dies with Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong), an invited guest of Alan’s who apparently overdoses on cocaine. Frazzled, the guys try to piece together the night before, hide Chow’s body, and find the lost Teddy before he gets swallowed up in Bangkok. But as the guys delve deeper and deeper into the night’s activities, they find some unsettling truths in a world of crime and addiction that makes Stu wonder if he’s really ready for marriage.
On another note: as a woman, and some man’s future wife, I have a MAJOR problem with the ending of this film. That personally makes this movie revolting to me; the ending was too quick and decidedly undeserved. There were so many issues that was just dropped and brushed aside with no affect and that is not only a shame- that should be criminal. I know that this is all fake, but aren’t movies supposed to be a depiction of life; shouldn’t they have some sense of honesty in them. The beauty of The Hangover is that was all harmless fun with a credible progression towards the ending; this is not the case with its sequel, and I’ll leave it at that.
Back in 2009, the world was shocked and delighted as the Wolf Pack burst onto the scene in the comedic buddy film titled The Hangover; in which three best friends wake up from their wild and raunchy antics in Las Vegas to find themselves saddled with a strange baby, a stolen tiger, and missing one very important groom. The Hangover was a surprise comedy hit, pleasing audiences and critics alike, raking in millions and millions of dollars, and catapulting its three male leads to superstardom.
With such momentum, there is no surprise that the producers decided to follow its flash success with their newest offering The Hangover 2; a film that differs from its predecessor in every possible way while still being essentially the same movie. The Hangover 2 is formulaic, crude, and at the end of the day just plain sad, as it tries to capture the magic of Hangover by stealing and replicating every great moment in a bastardized version of comedy.
We begin Hangover 2 much the same as we began Hangover, a run-down Phil calling up Tracy, (the bride in the first film who now holds no significance except to recall a brief moment of nostalgia) to tell her that the guys have once again screwed up after a wild night of partying. Then, of course, we rewind back in time to find out just how the guys got here. After his first impetuous and short-lived trip to the altar, Stu (Ed Helms) is once again getting married, this time, to his lovely fiancée Lauren (Jamie Chung). He gathers his best buds Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Doug (Justin Bartha), along with Doug’s brother-in-law, the reluctantly invited Alan (Zach Galifianakis), and Teddy (Mason Lee), Stu’s teenaged soon-to-be brother-in-law to travel to Thailand for the wedding. To say that the family relationship is tense would be accurate as Lauren’s father has a strict reign over the family ties.
First off, if you’ve already seen The Hangover, there is no need for you to go see The Hangover 2, because between the two films the only thing that has changed is the character focus and location. Instead of looking for Doug, the story revolves around finding Teddy in time to make it for Stu’s wedding. And instead of Vegas, the guys are running around the locales of Bangkok, following one false lead after another. Hangover 2 follows strictly in the footsteps of its predecessor; from Alan’s attachment to their helpless new member to the hostage crisis and Chow’s leaps from unexpected places, this film is a paint-by-numbers affair that while trying to recreate the magic of the first film, completely manages to miss what made it so special in the first place.
Part of The Hangover’s mass appeal was because it was so new and unexpected; a fresh and unfiltered look at a male bonding party gone awry. It was special not because of what the characters did, but because no one else had done it before. It was so insane and preposterous, so far away from the norm, that it became a class of its own. Instead of continuing to offer us a different take on the unexpected, Hangover 2 gives us more exactly what we expected from The Hangover but just pushes it to another level; a darker level that this bromance comedy is completely unprepared to handle.
The makers of this film approached it in a completely one-dimensional manner. This was supposed to be a comedy, so they only focused on the ‘ha-ha’ angle of everything no matter the damaging, and life-altering moments that happen in between. The characters’ cavalier attitudes to these horrible and horrifying events are really quite reprehensible. I don’t care who you are, having your finger cut off is going to be a traumatic experience that deserves more than just a passing nod. The fact that nothing seems to affect these characters show that they are either shallow or deeply, deeply flawed.
But don’t get me wrong, Hangover 2 is quite funny and major credit goes to Zach Galafianakis for this. He is endearing, simple, and insane; in short he makes this movie. Without him, this movie would have completely failed. Bradley Cooper does a very fine job of looking very fine in every scene that he is in. And Ed Helms, well, he’s in it too. I love Justin Bartha as Doug, just because he was the only one smart enough to be out of this movie for most of the time. This film also stars Ken Jeong, Paul Giamatti, Jeffrey Tambor, and Bryan Callen. There is a brief cameo by Mike Tyson, but that’s completely unnecessary as it adds nothing to the film, just like so much else. Hangover 2 is R rated, and with good reason: it’s gross.
Overall, the challenge of any sequel film is how to continue the story and spirit of the first film while maintaining a unique and fresh voice that is all its own. By piggy-backing on the original, Hangover 2 has done nothing new with this franchise, and in fact goes to show just how hard it is to make magic twice. The same antics that we’ve seen in the first film don’t hold up as well a second time, and this film has nothing more or new to offer. If, by some chance, you’ve managed to make it this far without seeing The Hangover 2, do yourself a favor and don’t.
Skip it.
source : here
