THE HANGOVER 2

The sequel The Hangover Part II is set to open Memorial Day weekend, and I think it fits perfectly considering most will be leaving work early on Friday, and have some free time which will extend all through Monday. The film’s heavy-hitting fans will most definitely turn out in large crowds.

Keeping it spoiler free, this time the cat taking the marriage plunge is Stu (Ed Helms), who reunites with the original gang Phil (Bradley Cooper), Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha) plus his future brother in law Teddy (Mason Lee) and travels to Thailand to walk the aisle. Acknowledging the screw-ups of the Vegas fiasco last time around, Stu is adamant that his Bucks party will consist of nothing more than lunch at a diner with an orange juice. But, one burst of concentrated social pressure later, he agrees to have a single beer on the beach—“see you in 20 minutes,” he tells his wife-to-be—and the rest is history, folks. Now, if only he (or they) could remember it.

The guys wake up in Bangkok, their crappy hotel room adorned with the added bonuses of a severed finger and an angry well-dressed monkey. Within minutes one of their entourage is dead, so, time and criminal charges seem to be brewing, therefore, decide to leave. But Teddy is missing and they need to find him—or recover his body—before rocking up to the wedding.

There are crazy chase scenes, awkward encounters and a mixture of sight, dialogue and situation gags as the awkwardly lost duo scramble to make sense of, well, anything.

There is also an unmistakable overarching feeling that The Hangover 2 is going through the rounds. In his attempts to recreate the success of the first movie, a dopey, funny, throwaway popcorn flick, Todd Phillips pulls it off, and although it’s the SAME movie, what ups the antics here is the fact that they’re in another country!
The highlight of this movie is always Zach. Not taking anything away from the rest of the cast, but for some reason, these nutty roles couldn’t have been presented to a better person than Zack.

Personally, I feel this film is as great—dare I say better than the first—flawless comedic brilliance with endless edginess.