The Hangover Part II
The summer season continues with suites of “The Hangover Part II”, an almost exact copy of the original which is held this time in Thailand. No matter that the recipe is almost the same, the laughs are always by appointment.
It’s not everyone who learns from the mistakes. Sent to Bangkok to attend the wedding of Stu (Ed Helms), Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) spend a night in hell. So much so that the three men wake up in the morning having forgotten everything. They must hurry to remember the sequence of events, because the problems were not long in coming.
“The Hangover” was the surprise hit of 2009. This unpretentious little comedy starring unknown actors generally has triumphed at the box office. So it was normal to see more happen as quickly as possible. This second part takes much the same formula: a night of debauchery, a race against time through the city to find out what happened to tons of trouble, a surprising animal and even Mike Tyson, until hilarious end credits which includes previously unpublished photographs of the nocturnal adventure.
Nothing new under the sun, this variation on the same issues is not as funny and surprising than the last. This does not take pleasure in this quest rambling set from the hip. Director Todd Phillips is an expert to make people laugh (“Due Date”, “Old School”, “Road Trip”) and he comes with his production without dead time and amazingly simple scenario which does not fail twists and comical scenes, ranging from total nonsense (the sequences where the monkey appeared) and assumed bad taste (the return of Mr. Chow with Ken Jeong who is having a field day).
Nobody has touched the core of the characters is certainly the most important part of this farce. The great chemistry between the actors is palpable and this is reflected on the screen easily. Zach Galifianakis is more like a schizophrenic and his friendly way to get your foot in your mouth commands admiration. Ed Helms has gained confidence since the last crusade and Bradley Cooper fully master the art of deadpan humor laugh. The cast is completed by a Paul Giamatti who sadly underutilized.
While the vein is running out, “The Hangover Part II” arrives to put in a good mood with his irreverent and outrageous tone. A bit like in “Weekend at Bernie’s”, even if not always funny, the audience ends up laughing, which in this type of exercise is a good sign. With luck, the third will bring new life to the story.
Related posts:
