Movie Review: The Hangover Part II

Two years have passed since Phil Wenneck(Bradley Cooper), Stu Price(Ed Helms) and Alan Garner(Zach Galifianakis) spent two days running around Las Vegas looking for Doug Billings(Justin Bartha) after the bachelor party. Now, Stu has found his soul mate in Lauren(Jamie Chung). The two of them are getting married in Thailand. Because of the unforgettable events which followed the last bachelor party in Vegas, Stu decides to have his bachelor party at IHOP where they don’t serve liquor. On hearing this, Phil is angry. Doug is okay. But persuades Stu to invite Alan for the wedding. Stu relents and invites Alan.

Alan’s enthusiasm of a wolfpack reunion is squashed at the airport when Lauren’s brother Teddy joins the four friends. Alan is upset with Teddy. All of them arrive at Thailand and proceed to the resort where the wedding is planned. Lauren’s dad is unimpressed with Stu and treats him condescendingly in front of the guests at the dinner. After the dinner, the four friends walk to the beach to have a beer. Teddy also joins them. Phil brings the beer which is sealed and not tampered. All of them drink beer.

The next day, Phil, Stu and Alan wake up in a cheap hotel room. Alan has a shaved head while Stu has a tattoo on his face! They panic as they fear to have lost Doug again. To their relief, Doug calls them up from the hotel. But the happiness is short-lived. Doug is safe but Eddy is missing! Also, they can’t recollect what transpired in the night. With one day left for the wedding, the three friends have to find Eddy without raising suspicion of Lauren and her family. Their search for Eddy leads them to a monkey dressed funnily, Leslie Chow(Ken Jeong), a monk who has taken the vow of silence, a tattoo artist, a monastery, a strip club and Kingsley(Paul Giamatti).

Todd Phillips directs this enjoyable sequel to the movie The Hangover. The structure of this movie rhymes with the first part. Phil calls in with bad news. Then the movie cuts to the pre-marriage celebrations of the friends followed by them waking up with no memory of the previous night. The friends reconstruct the previous night’s events while searching for the missing person. Finally, they find what they were looking for. This was the structure of the first part and this is retained in the sequel too. In spite of having a predictable structure, the movie keeps the viewer engrossed with the funny moments and a few unpredictable twists. Retaining the structure also brings in a nostalgic feeling for the viewers who loved the first part and also brings in a smile on their lips or a hearty laugh even before any word is uttered on screen.

Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis are a great team on screen. It is difficult to say who is best. Bradley is the naughty boy, Ed the victim and Zach the moron. Take one of them away, the movie is not as funny anymore. Out of the rest in the cast, Ken Jeong’s Chow stands out as the effeminate gangster who scorns everything and everyone. The way he abuses the hotel staff while walking into the hotel to meet Kingsley is a scene to watch out for.

Go for it. I advice you to watch The Hangover once more before going for the sequel.

Language: English

Genre: Comedy

Rating: ***

Tags: Movies,Bradley Cooper,Ed Helms,Zach Galifianakis,Todd Phillips,Comedy