Film

The Hangover Part II

Rebecca Sear | Tuesday 31 May, 2011 14:52

Dir: Todd Phillips
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha

Those clever, clever folks at Warner Bros. have gone and done it again: taken a hugely successful film like The Hangover (highest grossing R-rated comedy film of all time, dontcha know?) and strung it out into an unnecessary sequel. Less hangover, more paralytic three-day blackout – the kind which really starts to drag after a while. In the second instalment of Todd Phillips’ über-successful buddy comedy concept the ‘Wolfpack’ are back, and you can bet your bottom baht* that it’s going to be messier, crazier and yet somehow exactly the same as Las Vegas. Except with more Thai ladyboys.

Phil (Bradley Cooper), Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha) join Stu (Ed Helms) in a serene Thai resort for his wedding to his implausibly hot fiancée. Still scarred from Doug’s pre-wedding Las Vegas-based shenanigans, Stu takes the safe option of IHOP for his bachelor send off. However, blueberry pancakes weren’t quite what the rest of the gang had in mind, as they persuade him to lighten up and join them for a quiet beer on the beach once they reach Thailand. Cut to a grimy Bangkok backstreet, and the Wolfpack are left to piece together the events of the previous night, and to locate Stu’s misplaced 16 year-old brother-in-law after a grisly clue is discovered. With no leads as to the night’s occurrences apart from a monkey and an unfortunately placed tribal tattoo (the unfortunate place being Stu’s temple), it seems like the wedding will be off. Of course it won’t really be though, because that would be an appalling ending, but the suspense won’t build itself!

Why Bangkok? Well firstly, the tagline ‘Krakow has them now’ isn’t quite so intriguing, and furthermore, Bangkok apparently seems to present far more opportunities to be just a little bit racist. To illustrate: there’s the fact that everyone in Bangkok is portrayed to be hostile, dirt poor and/or a criminal, the insinuation that Thai strippers would of course all have concealed penises about their person, and even the way the three leads seem to interact with the Bangkokians smacks of ignorance and makes me feel slightly embarrassed to be a Westerner.

Performances from lead characters are consistently okay; man of the moment Zach Galifianakis is the strongest comedy actor in the cast, yet one feels that he’s reaching the point of Jack Black style over-exposure. Bradley Cooper’s character provides a strong contrast to the sometimes bland simpering of Ed Helms, but his explosive temperament significantly reduces his likeability. The Hangover: Part II sees the return of Mr Chow from the first instalment. After approximately two minutes on screen you’ll wish he hadn’t returned. Watch out for a brief but well-played part from Paul Giamatti, also.

The Hangover: Part II will be revelled in by those who know and love the characters already. The story is predictable, but the scriptwriters couldn’t really do much more with the concept of a three day binge apart from transpose it to a different setting. It will certainly do well at the box office, but one hopes that it’s left there and not stretched into a third repeat of events. Although, maybe The Hangover Part 3: Blackpool Nights would have a certain je ne sais quoi?

*that’s Thai currency. Obviously

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