For fans of the first film, this is worth watching, but I advise keeping your expectations rather low.

DVD Review

Title: The Hangover Part II

Director: Todd Phillips

Studio: Legendary Pictures, Warner Brothers

Principal Cast: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong, Mason Lee, Justin Bartha, Jamie Chung

Release Date: December 6, 2011

Run Time: 102 minutes

Reviewed by Tessa Perkins

Having really enjoyed The Hangover, I was hoping that this sequel would deliver another unexpectedly hilarious adventure story full of original jokes and funny events. Unfortunately, it did not live up to its predecessor and was a disappointment in many ways. The story is essentially the same, with a new location and some details substituted and new characters added, but it is far from original as they re-used some of their jokes from the first film. There are still some good laughs to be had in this sequel, but far fewer, and the unrealistic ending unravels its credibility.

Instead of heading to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, this time the Wolfpack is headed to Thailand for Stu’s (Helms) wedding to his beautiful fiancée Lauren (Chung). They reluctantly bring Alan (Galifianakis) along for another adventure, as he has been obsessed with the others since returning from Las Vegas. A new addition to their gang is Lauren’s brother Teddy (Lee) who Alan despises for joining his precious Wolfpack. This time around, they lose Teddy instead of Doug (Bartha) who remains safely at the resort during the mayhem. Their strange Chinese pal, Chow (Jeong), invited by Alan, is along for the fun as well.

As in the first film, they wake up after a night of debauchery and have to put the pieces together to figure out what exactly happened. They end up in Bangkok after Chow picks them up in his speedboat, and when they wake up Teddy is gone. Their mission is to find Teddy and bring him back safe and sound so that they can get back to the resort for the wedding and not alarm Lauren or her stern father. Even after Stu’s lame Bachelor Brunch and insistence that he didn’t want to do any crazy partying, a calm beer around the campfire turns into a night of chaos.

I think Alan is still the funniest character in the film, as he says things like “I’m a stay-at-home son,” pronouncing the country as “thigh-land,” and exclaiming “Oh, my word” and “What the crud” where something stronger is clearly necessary. Along with him, my favourite aspect of this film was the monkey who they find in their hotel room. This is no ordinary monkey though as he deals drugs and smokes cigarettes, accompanying them in their mission. Crystal the monkey is so cute and really steals the show.

Stu, who woke up with some missing teeth in the first film, is somewhat relieved that he has a tattoo exactly like Mike Tyson’s on his face this time. In their quest to find Teddy, they end up looking for answers at a monastery where they return a monk who they kidnapped the night before. (At least he’s less dangerous than the tiger they kidnapped last time). Getting any information out of the monks proves difficult though as they have taken vows of perpetual silence. On their way to the monastery in a bus, Alan revives his penile joke that was originally done on a baby in the first film as he pretends the monk has a boner and gets the monkey to nibble at it, saying “When a monkey nibbles a penis, it’s funny in any language.” 

There is a recurring line in the film that gets a bit tiring as various characters say something like “Bangkok has him now,” personifying the city and giving it a sinister image. The ending of the film is what really ruined it for me. They return to the resort for the wedding with Teddy, but not all of Teddy returns as he is missing a finger. There is little to no negative reaction from any of the characters about this injury, and since Teddy was his father’s prized possession I find this reaction highly unlikely. Lauren’s father also has a sudden change of heart and accepts Stu after he gives a horrible speech about having a demon inside of him and asking for his “motherf***ing blessing.” I also highly doubt this would be an effective speech to win over a reluctant father-in-law. One other thing I found quite cringe-worthy was the blatant product placement such as Stu saying at the airport, “I’d actually really like a Smart Water.”

The special features on this DVD are nothing special either. There is a fake documentary in which a filmmaker tries to find the truth about “what went down in Thailand” during the filming, alleging that the cast got up to vandalism and general mischief. It was quite cheesy and weird. The gag reel is quite funny, and I did enjoy seeing some of the behind-the-scenes footage and the short piece about Crystal’s involvement in the film. I think that for fans of the first film, this is worth watching, but I advise keeping your expectations rather low.

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