BY MIKEY MIGO
The Hangover was one of the funniest movies of the past ten or so years. It didn’t have any huge stars in it, but the collective chemistry and awesomeness of Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, and Bradley Cooper and the directorial skills of Todd Phillips made for magic. The story, the jokes, the tone, and the timing of this movie made it the highest grossing R-Rated comedy of all time. I’ve watched it a good dozen or so times and I really have a hard time not enjoying it. I’m sure once it hits TNT or Comedy Central I’ll hate it, but only because it’ll be censored out the ass. Okay, point being… I like The Hangover, you liked The Hangover, and a whole lot of people liked The Hangover. When they announced a sequel I got nervous. How do they upstage the first movie? They didn’t leave much room for anything else to really be that shocking. Would anything more be too much and screw with the reality of the movie? Would it be as funny? Would be a rinse and repeat of the same thing? Too much of a good thing? These are just a few concerns I had. I sound like I’m setting myself up to go on a rant or tangent so I’ll just say it. I enjoyed The Hangover Part II a lot. It wasn’t AS FUNNY as the first one. It really can’t be. With the first one you watch it and you’re still figuring out the characters and taking in the tone. The little things shock you a little more and make things a little funnier. With this it’s like a reunion tour of sorts. We know the players and we know the scenario. While they didn’t lose Doug this time, they’re still on a desperate search for someone and have to retrace their steps. In many ways the movie felt like a carbon copy of the first, but only onto a different color sheet of paper. I don’t know if that metaphor works. I’m trying to say it did suffer from the rinse and repeat concern. I get it’s “the hangover”, but the premise here doesn’t change really at all. The same jokes from the first movie… all here with a few variations. Even towards the end of the movie, it’s like they finish the second act and go into the third and finish of the movie almost page for page. I know it’s supposed to play as “yeah! I remember that in the first one!”, but it does feel like “yeah! THEY totally remember putting that in the first one”. That’s my gripe, but as negative as it sounds I did really like this movie. Zach Galifianakis was weirder and more of a man child in this one. He had some great one-liners and got a lot whiner. Ed Helms’s character goes through the same arch again but got a lot tougher. Bradley Cooper was kind of the same, but I guess got a little nicer. That’s really all the development in personality. We’re still dealing with three dudes taking on a whole world characters, settings, and situations. It just works. Their chemistry is strong and I’m pretty positive this movie or the first wouldn’t have worked without this specific casting. I won’t spoil the shock points of the story. There are a few really crazy scenarios, there is a cameo or two, tons of laughs, lots of little things that’ll make your sixth and seventh viewing that much funnier, and the same magic of the first. I’d say “go see this!”, but unless you’re a complete douche you WILL see this. Let’s see if the trilogy rumors become true! B+
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