The Hangover Part II

First Hit: There are no real surprises here as it is the same film as Part I with a few new twists and a new location.

When a film presents a somewhat new view on an event like the original “The Hangover” did, it is easy to get caught up and enjoy it.

The concept of “no one knowing" what happened the night before until they view the ending pictures was fun the first time around. To do a sequel means the surprise is over unless the filmmaker can create a real and new next step in the concept.

The Hangover Part II fails this in all ways. The initial scene tells us directly, “we’ve done it again”. Then the film takes us back a week and attempts to prepare us for the boys to not have the same event because they’ve taken precautions. It wouldn’t be a film if they really did and here is where this film fails.

We don’t believe any of the first part of the film because we’ve already gotten a preview that it is going to be worse than the first one because of Phil’s (played by Bradley Cooper) opening scene phone call. Mistake, mistake, mistake and because of this we have to wade through all of what we basically know will happen to that fateful phone call.

Yes some of it is funny, some of it is cute, but basically the audience has to wade through this stuff until the phone call, and then we get to see how they make things right (as we know will happen). The boys are the same boys as in the first film with Phil, Stu (played by Ed Helms), and Alan (played by Zach Galifianakis).

Additionally Doug (played by Justin Bartha) is back, but not as the one the other three misplace this time. Also back is Mr. Chow (played by Ken Jeong). There is a new person lost in this film and his name is Teddy (played by Mason Lee) who is the younger brother of Lauren (played by Jamie Chung) who happens to be the bride character this time.

Cooper is OK as the smart; level headed one of the three. Helms is fine the overwrought groom dentist who “has a dark side”. Galifianakis is OK as overly pampered rich guy who wants to be part of the “wolf pack”. Bartha has virtually no role as he did in the first film and appears only to be there for congruency. Jeong has a larger part in this film than in the past and he makes the most of the character. Craig Mazin and Scot Armstrong were the compliant scriptwriters that robbed most the script of this film from the first film by using MS Word's search and replace feature as the main writing tool. Todd Phillips might be better staying as a producer than a director as he created little in the way of engagement. Proof? The audience laughed very little and it was a ¾ full theater.

Overall: God hopes they don’t’ try to make a Part III and IV but it appears the writing is on the wall or in Word, that is.

The Hangover

First Hit: A very funny film in spite of the subject.

There is nothing funny about a hangover. It has been many, many years since I’ve had one and don’t ever anticipate having one again; especially like the one portrayed in this very funny film.

The film begins with a wedding location being set up outside the bride’s home. The bride, Tracy Garner, (played by Sasha Barrese) is fretting and worried because she has not heard from her groom Doug Billings (played by Justin Bartha) in two days. Tracy receives a phone call from her groom’s best friend Phil Wenneck (played by Bradley Cooper), who has a cut lip, is unshaven and looks like he’s been up all night. She asks him where Doug is and his confessional response is “we’ve lost him”.

The film then reels back in time to two days before the wedding and the four guys take off for two days in Las Vegas for a bachelor party. The bride’s brother Alan (Zach Galifianakis) is a bit touched and Doug’s dentist friend Stu Price (played by Ed Helms) makes up the gang of four.

Alan buys some Rohypnol (Roofies aka date rape drug) thinking he’s buying Ecstasy and he, unknowingly to the others, spikes their initial toast with it. The next scene is their trashed out Las Vegas hotel room, complete with a live tiger in the bathroom, Stu has a tooth missing, no one can remember anything, and they can’t find the groom.

The middle part of the film is spent trying to find out what happened and locating Doug. Eventually they find Doug, get him back for wedding (sunburned and haggard) but none of them really knows what happened during the fateful night.

As the wedding reception winds down, Alan finds their camera which was in the car they had in Vegas. They smile look at each other, and they make a pack to look at the pictures once, together, and then destroy the evidence.

The film was clever in that only until the end did you get an idea of what actually happened that fateful night, and only in still pictures which allows the audience to continue to imagine and speculate. The direction from that aspect was very good. The acting was good and I thought Galifianakis, playing a troubled brother of the bride, was the best acted character. Heather Graham playing Jade, an exotic dancer, who befriended Stu was sweet.

Overall: This was not a great film and it was a very funny film which stayed with me after I left the theater. I was surprised at how often I laughed out loud as did the audience I was sitting with. It also created a level of suspense, of what happened in Las Vegas, which continued until the very end and even today, 4 days later.