The Hangover Part II - New Movie Review

When “The Hangover” came out 2 years ago, I thought it was a great little adult comedy. It had average guys getting themselves into trouble wrapped around a mystery plot. I laughed the entire time and to this day will still quote lines from the movie. So another adventure with these characters sounds like a great time. “The Hangover Part II” did give us another adventure, but it felt as if it was just the first one reshot with a couple of crazier elements.

In this installment the Wolf Pack heads to Thailand where Alan once again accidently drugs everyone and they end up waking up with one of their friends missing and no idea of what happened that night before. There are a few changes, instead of a tooth, Stu has a tattoo and instead of a baby there is a monkey. However, the changes don’t make up for a plot that is essentially the same as last time. We already know how the characters are going to react so with each incident that happens there is no freshness. We know Stu will freak out, we know Alan will become attached to things and we know Phil will just laugh it off and be the straight guy.

There isn’t an exact science to sequels, they are usually really difficult to make. But there are some general rules that some of the great ones have followed that this one completely ignored:

Number 1 – Add a new character. At least one regular should be added to a sequel. Don’t go over the top though and add multiple ones or you will lose the audience. The main plot focused only on the same 3 from the original movie and no one else.

Number 2 – Split your characters up. We know how they act together, but how do they act separated. Split the characters up and have them work to find each other.

Number 3 – Follow up on the first movie relationship. The only relationship from the first movie was Stu and the stripper. The entire plot of this movie focuses on abandoning that relationship and barely acknowledging it. That isn’t nice to the audience.

There isn’t much else to be said about this film. The laughs are there but would have been better with just a few changes to the plot. The movie gets 2.5 out of 5 stars.