Mania Grade: D+

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Info:

• Starring: Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Mason Lee, Paul Giamatti and Ken Jeong
• Written by: Craig Mazin, Scot Armstrong and Todd Phillips
• Directed by: Todd Phillips
• Studio: Warner Bros
• Rating: R
• Run Time: 102 minutes
• Series:

Mania Review: The Hangover Part II

The Hangover, Part II
© Warner Bros/Robert Trate

At least it’s not in 3D.

For the second time this week, Hollywood presents us with a victory lap in the place of a real movie. (And yes, I’m aware that this one isn’t genre; we’ve gotten a lot of requests to cover it, however, and I wish I could report better news.) While fitfully amusing, The Hangover Part II prefers to lather, rinse and repeat instead of moving its central premise in a new direction. The first film stands as one of the funniest in the last few years, thanks largely to its unexpectedly strong premise and three killer performances. Lightning, in this case, does not strike twice.

The central problem lies in repetition. The Hangover Part II apes every single plot development of the first film at almost the exact same point: you can set your watch by them. The differences are strictly cosmetic, each “change” clinging lamprey-like to the tone and intention of its previous incarnation. We’re not in Vegas, we’re in Bangkok; Stu (Ed Helms) gets a facial tattoo instead of losing a tooth; the missing person is the bride’s little brother rather than the groom, etc. You sense the formula closing in the minute Phil (Bradley Cooper) gives a call on his phone to report that they’re currently a man down. The soul of it all – the part that made the first film such a big hit in the first place – utterly vanishes, replaced by a well-connected pretender to its outrageous throne.

For the uninitiated, a quick synopsis: on the eve of his Thailand wedding, nice guy dentist Stu takes his brother-in-law-to-be Teddy (Mason Lee), the ever-hustling Phil and unwanted hanger-on Alan (Zach Galifianakis) out to the hotel beach for a little toast. Twelve hours later, they awaken in a filthy Bangkok hotel with blinding headaches and no sign of Teddy… save for a severed finger in an ice chest. The remaining threesome must piece together what happened the night before lest the wedding take place with one family member missing.

The filmmakers seem to believe that by moving the action to Bangkok, they can up the ante on the original. In truth, they actually diminish The Hangover’s mischievous core through repetition and overkill.  The first film earned its spurs with a delicate balancing act. We knew these guys had it coming, but we also rooted for them and wondered what we might do in their shoes. The original also flirted with real darkness: the notion that their missing buddy might be lying dead in an alleyway somewhere.  With Part II, the cat is out of the bag and so is the tension. We know exactly how it’s going to end because it follows the earlier path so closely.

In an effort to gain more juice, it pushes the “outrageous” button far more times than it should: attempting to gain through shock and awe what it can’t in wit or surprise. That upends the careful mixture of its predecessor and leaves crude shock tactics in its wake.  The cast thrashes about in an effort to redress the flaws. Helms has the best of it, but Cooper merely coasts along, and Galifianakis has officially become annoying rather than weirdly endearing. Ken Jeong makes a late inning rally as the criminal Mr. Chow, and I confess that the film’s inevitable use of “One Night in Bangkok” rocks the house, but they’re all swimming madly against a very mediocre tide.

Comedy is the most difficult of all genres to pull off successfully; it punishes repetition far more than any others. The joke is never as good the second time you hear it, no matter how desperately or fervently you want it to. The Hangover Part II stands as irrefutable proof of that equation: too fumbling and slow witted to understand how badly it mismanages its task.