A bit of culture shock and awe... Sequels are tricky monsters. Sometimes you get The Empire Strikes Back and sometimes...you get Weekend At Bernie's II. The Hangover: Part II is The Empire Strikes Back of comedy sequels. First thing to consider is this, The Hangover was a worldwide success. It catapulted Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis to stardom, it made tons of money and became an instantaneous comedy classic. So, yes, any sequel would have the cards stacked against and any other film franchise would become weak in the knees and falter at the finish line. Every movie except for this one. It tops the last one with out becoming so over the top that it doesn't acknowledge where it came from and it has heart. Sort of. As much heart as you can have with transsexuals and drug-muling monkeys. I have some thoughts on the film because The Wolfpack is Back!

Stu is getting married in Thailand to his fiance Lauren because it's where she's from and he would do anything to appease her hard-nosed father, who barely speaks a word to him. He refers to him as being as stale and stagnant as rice pudding and likens him to Lauren's learning disabled cousin at the hilarious toast that Alan hijacks and damn near destroys. Phil goads Stu into having a bachelor party. Stu would rather have it at IHOP. He stratigically places a napkin over his orange juice for preventing further roofie-ing. Doug is under pressure to invite his wild card brother-in-law Alan. They visit Alan at his parent's home, where his dad pays his rent. Alan is waiting for the invite. The Wolfpack needs this trip and in Alan's eyes it has to happen. He can't sit around waiting for the Jonas Brothers to roll into town. The guys goad Stu into inviting Alan and the gang set off for Bangkok. Except that Alan's jealousy meter reaches maximum peak when he finds out that Lauren's little prodigy brother Teddy is tagging along. Surely, the three best friends that anyone could have can't surely have a fourth. After they land in Bangkok, the fellas have a one beer beachside for Stu's wedding. Then, we fade to to bright white. Phil wakes on the floor of the dankest looking hell-hole, looking like hell warmed over. Alan has a shaved head, Stu has a ginormous Mike Tyson face tattoo and Teddy is missing save for his finger. So, the gang sets out to figure out just what happened over the course of their one night in Bangkok.

Sadly, Ken Jeong has a very minor role in the film due to his filming of the TV series Community but he leaves a very lasting mark throughout the film. Especially in his opening scene. Paul Giamatti also has a very brief cameo in the film and while he could've been used more, he just couldn't due to the secret motives that his character has. The monkey, that smoking, drug-muling monkey was used for quite a few funny gags and laughs. But it is very clear that he's not smoking. Also, there's a very, brief action setpiece that thrills you as much as it makes you laugh. Well done, fellas.

First things first, the dark and sometimes hellish Bangkok is a very stark contrast to the original's Las Vegas setting. The Wolfpack are in a country where they don't speak the language and they have a missing teenager with a missing digit. Strangers in a strange land. Actually, it's an even starker contrast to the gorgeous beach locale that they first have the wedding party at. The hotel room that they wake up in looks like it wandered in off of the set of Hostel. Everything is dripping with ooze and cockroaches and Johnny Cash blares eerily through the radio. It gets really atmospheric. Total culture shock. The production designer and the art director are the stars of the technical side of this picture. The film is shot gorgeously by DP Lawrence Sher, it has sweeping camera shots and nice aerial footage that shows just because Thailand gets a bad rap doesn't mean it ain't pretty. But it doesn't mean it ain't ugly. The score mainly serves to emphasize the comedic moments in the film, in a comedy such as extreme as this one, it's kind of null. Christophe Beck does great work and has done so in the past, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer for example but here score is not the most important part of the feature.

The script by Craig Mazin, Scot Armstrong and Todd Phillips could a been a three headed monster and gone off into several different directions as most films do with more than two writers but here it doesn't. The trio have done a good job of encapsulating the characters who were written by two very different screenwriters. Thematically, the film follows the same motif as the first..the cold open call to Doug's former fiancee that shows that things are screwed up big time. Sure, it follows the same path, they follow clues and ultimately piece it together with Saw-like precision but it doesn't feel forced and predictable. I had no clue where Teddy was the whole film and I only pieced it together at the exact moment they did. That's good writing. The humor flies fast and furious and only very briefly dips into the disgusting but honestly the humor fits in with the overall tone of the film. At first, I didn't feel the humor, it wasn't jiving with me at first. But once, the whole gang got together it clicked. Cooper, Helms and Galifianakis have a great rapport and that shows through the film. Doug is pretty much out of the film for the bulk of the story but he really isn't needed, after all it isn't his story. Stu's realization that he may in fact have a demon in him and that the other two bring out the worst in him. This rings true. The characters have grown from the last film, Phil no longer thinks that Alan is this creepy awkward guy, he's his creepy, awkward brother. The wonderful ending in that Alan, the boy wunderkind saves the day, with his vast knowledge of Thigh-land and he knows how to drive a speedboat. They could've copped out and had them try and hide the obvious tattoo with concealer and just pretend that this horrible night never happened. But they don't, they embrace it head on. That works.

I've followed Todd Phillips' films for a long while now. He really knows his audience and his work delivers in spades. From Road Trip to Old School to Starsky and Hutch, he's only ever had one major misstep and that was Due Date, and that failed because of the miscasting of Robert Downey Jr. Phillips will be working for a long-time in the industry especially now that he has a strong partnership with Warner Bros.

Now, for a couple of fun tangents and one problem I had with the film. Todd Phillips' films always feature two key things. One, they always feature The Dan Band. You know, the all-male cover band who's schtick is to cover songs by women or songs about women and just plain dirty them up. They were absent sadly from the film. Also, Phillips has a cameo as his stock character Mr. Creepy in almost all of his films, like the Hitchcock of comedy and I sadly missed it. A quick check confirms that he was in the film but I didn't spot him. It's like Where's Waldo. Now, on to the problem that I had, the One Night in Bangkok cliche. I was hoping they wouldn't go there but they did...and when they did it, having Mike Tyson perform the song worked and clearly Tyson was having a blast.

Finally, the tattoo artist controversy, originally they were going to have Mel Gibson perform in the role but his personal demons overwhelmed the talent in the film and they booted him. Then Liam Neeson was going to act in the role but reshoots on Wrath of The Titans forced him to unfortunately bow out as well. So, they cast Nick Cassavetes in the role and seeing him look so much more like his father, John and saying unspeakable things like daring a kid to show them his huge balls was a crazy performance from the director of The Notebook. Sure, anybody could've played the role and personally Mel Gibson would've been perfect in a film that continually repeats the fact that yes, you may have personal demons but you can conquer them and move on...but I digress.

And for God's sake, you have to stay through the end credits for a bit where Bradley Cooper and Ken Jeong recreate the (in)famous POW execution picture. This is a must.

The Hangover: Part II gets an A

Reviewer:
Nathan Smith

http://hangoverpart2.warnerbros.com/