Skip to main content

The Hangover Part 2

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis
Directed by: Todd Phillips
Screenplay by: Craig Mazin, and Scot Armstrong

     If you're interested in lack of originality, you're in the right place.  While "The Hangover" was great a few years ago, was there any need for a sequel?
     "The Hangover Part 2" is almost an exact copy of the first "Hangover" film.  The difference, a new place (Bangkok instead of Las Vegas), and Stu (Ed Helms) is getting married instead of Doug (Justin Bartha).  They also lose another person in their group, Teddy (Mason Lee), the bride's little brother.
    After a night of hard partying and not knowing what on earth the wolf pack trio (Phil, Stu, and Alan) has done, they wake up to find themselves mysteriously in Bangkok, Thailand, instead of where they should be, at a resort in another part of Thailand getting ready for Stu's wedding.  Nothing seems to have happened to Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu has a Mike Tyson tattoo on his face, and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) has a buzz cut.  But, as they slowly find out what they did the night before, they realize they've lost Teddy and that they have a monkey in their room (that takes the place of the tiger in the first film).  I'm not even going to finish summarizing this film because there's no point.  If you've seen the first "Hangover" film, the story plays out the exact same way.
    My biggest problem is how similar all the stupid stuff the wolf pack has done is to the first film.  The difference is that they seem to be in the same amount of trouble, but with different people.  They're not in trouble with cops like in the first film.  While looking for Teddy, they find a different Teddy (same thing with Doug in the first film).  The acting is fine, just like in the other film and Zach Galifianakis delivers a similar performance to that of the other film, like he has a pretty serious case of ADHD.  I've never seen someone be so random.
    I really don't know what to say about "The Hangover Part 2" other than that it is the exact same thing we saw two years ago with "The Hangover Part 1" and that it is just as funny as part 1.  In short, the jokes are old, the story is old, and the whole idea is old.  There just isn't anything new about it.
I'm giving "The Hangover Part 2" a C for lacking originality.

Comments

  1. Donald Lewin NelsonJune 1, 2011 at 9:01 PM

    Matthew, this sounds like another formula movie made by a studio marketing department to turn a fast buck. The lack of originality in today's films drives me crazy and keeps me out of the theaters.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Hunger Games

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth Directed by: Gary Ross Screenplay by: Gary Ross and Suzanne Collins Based on the novel by Suzanne Collins      If reality television hasn't gone too far yet, then this show should definitely make it go too far.      In a futuristic nation called Panem, one boy and one girl are selected from each of the nation's twelve districts to represent them in an annual television event called the Hunger Games.  Of the 24 contestants, only one will survive in this televised fight to the death.      I like the concept of the story.  While this futuristic society seems somewhat simple, it does not seem all that well developed.  It is unknown how this society came into being, even though it is known how the Hunger Games began.      If this film were released last year, I would have hoped it would be nominated for best make-up.  Many of the characters ...
2 comments
Read more

"Scott Pilgrim vs. The World"

Starring Michael Cera, Alison Pill, Mark Webber, Ellen Wong, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" is a trippy, action packed popcorn flick with a heroic and comic aspect. It takes place during the present day in one of my favorite cities, Toronto, Canada. Initially, Scott Pilgrim (Cera) is a 22 year old unemployed guy from Toronto living with his friend because he doesn't have enough money for a place of his own. He's dating a 17 year old high schooler named Knives Chau (Wong). Nobody is really sure how to react to this so his band mates all say he's got a fake girlfriend. While at a party one night, he sees Ramona Flowers (Winstead), a girl who just moved to Toronto from New York and works for Amazon.ca and tries to say something to her but his nervousness gets the best of him. He orders a package from Amazon and she delivers it to him and it's at his doorstep that he gets the idea to ask her out. Scott's band is playing ...
1 comment
Read more

Resident Evil: Afterlife

Starring Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter, and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson Resident Evil: Afterlife is a somewhat scary action thriller about a zombie dominated planet during present times. It's the fourth movie in the franchise. Alice (Jovovich) is the former head of security at the Umbrella Corporation, the company that created the T-Virus that accidentally escaped and turned everybody into zombies. She travels to Alaska to what she thinks is a small town called Arcadia, where there is supposedly a colony of survivors that are infection free. She is drawn by transmissions saying that they offer safety and security, food and shelter. When she arrives, nothing is there, but she picks up Claire Redfield (Larter) and travels to what once was Los Angeles where there is another colony of four survivors living atop a prison rooftop and surrounded by zombies. They find that the Arcadia is actually a ship just offshore. Can they make it to the ship? Milla Jovovich plays a very act...
2 comments
Read more