The Hangover Part II

Synopsis:

Stu (Ed Helms) is getting married in Thailand, and while he wishes for a subdued bachelor party, the rest of the ‘Wolfpack’ have other ideas.

The biggest problem with The Hangover Part II is, it’s not The Hangover Part I. The first film was fresh, original and a complete surprise hit. A sequel is never going to reach the same level because there is no surprise factor; you know what’s coming. As a result, it has to be more shocking and outrageous to make the same sort of impression. But although you know the set-up this time, you do still get some surprises. The benefit of being a sequel is of course the publicity. The Hangover Part II is going to be a massive box office success because the first film had such good word of mouth and more sequels are bound to follow. 

It is laugh out loud funny in a lot of places, with a lot of the laughs coming from the ridiculous Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and the rest of the characters introduced in the first film. There is a lot of repetition from the first film; where there was a Tiger, there’s now a monkey; where there was a baby, there’s now a kidnapped monk; Stu has facial damage; where there was Mike Tyson, there’s still Mike Tyson. But while a lot of people have used the similarities as cause for complaint, it was never going to be anything else. This is a sequel, not a re-boot or a prequel and as such it follows the same formula as the first Hangover film.