"The Hangover Part II" by Todd Phillips: a review

In comedies from the past three or four years, many use “The Hangover” as a barometer of how a new comedy film ranks. Now comedy lovers have the second installment of the series, “The Hangover II,” to measure up to the original.

The good news is that “The Hangover II” is just as good as the original and at points is even funnier than the original. All of the crew from the original film is back, which really helps the continuity of the story. In “Hangover II” we learn that Stu (Ed Helms) is getting married and his wedding will be in Thailand, where his wife’s family is from. He has invited his best friends Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Doug (Justin Bartha) to come to the wedding. Doug is getting pressure from his wife to ensure that Alan (Zach Galifianakis) gets an invite to Stu’s wedding. We know from the first film that Alan slipped the gang roofies, or the date-rape drug, which led to their night of debauchery and mayhem. The group is a little resistant at first, but find out that the Vegas trip has been the height of his recent existence and needs the trip.

The group travels to Thailand and a beautiful resort where Stu is to marry and should be set for a relaxing time. Stu has said he didn’t want any bachelor party after what happened at Doug’s and even takes the group to IHOP before they leave as a bachelor brunch.

However, somehow the group manages to get into it again. Again, Doug is not a part of the craziness the group goes through, it centers around how Phil, Stu and Alan got involved in a night they literally can’t remember and are in the middle of Bangkok.

Much of the movie, like the original, is the trio trying to put together the events of what happened that night. One of the main problems for the group is that they have lost Stu’s future brother-in-law Teddy, a 16-year-old prodigy who is attending Stanford, somewhere in Bangkok.

We see Stu has somehow gotten the famous Mike Tyson face tattoo, Allen’s head has been shaved. Here is where most of the comedy comes in. Helms, Cooper and Galifiankis have great chemistry together and their comedy is spot on for a consecutive movie. Galifiankis plays his oddball role yet again, but surrounded by Cooper and Helms it works. Alan is the center for much of the problems that the group faces and the reactions of Stu and Phil make for some great moments.

Helms also plays the role of the guy who is freaked out by what transpired. Even though he was a party to what happened that night, he is the straight-laced one of the group and is losing his mind over what happened. The “how did it end up like this” moments are classic. A lot of these themes carried over from the first movie, but they continue to be funny.

And Ken Jeong returns as Chao, the foul-mouthed drug dealer from the first film, to offer scene stealing moments without changing film costumes. A monkey, a tried-and-true comedy trick, actually works in this film, too. In part because it does some very dirty things.

What works so well about the movie is the fact that most guys have had a lost weekend at some point where they are trying to figure out what happened. The premise is wild, but believable enough to be really funny. A lot of what happens is absurd, but it feels like it could happen to most guys I know.

“The Hangover II” had plenty of hype to live up to and often times that can sink a film. But director Todd Phillips was able to pull off making a sequel that is just as funny as the original. It doesn’t try to be more than it is. It doesn’t tries to be cute. It just tries really hard to be funny and it hits its mark.