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What is Zach doing? He's praying he's not really in this movie. |
I'm not bold enough to even try and bury the lead on this one. The Hangover Part II sucks. It is the worst movie I've seen so far this year, and there have been some real doozies. It is unfunny, unoriginal, and completely unworthy of your time and mine. It's like this: Yesterday, I got a bill from my student loan company. I had more fun paying that than I did watching The Hangover 2: Hungoverer.
The Hangover is a laugh-out-loud funny movie. One that is smart, witty, and fairly original. Everything in The Hangover just worked, and the movie profited from it. Two things then happened that usually happen when a comedy becomes a runaway success. First, it was adopted by the "Bro-Dude" subculture as "the best movie evar made, bra!", successfully usurping the crown from long-time champ Old School (which, oddly enough, is also directed by Todd Phillips). Secondly, Warner Bros. rented a dump truck, filled it with money, and backed it up to Todd Phillips' front door with a note that went something like, "Hey Todd, Hangover 2 please! Kgr8thnx!". As you can probably guess, any unholy creation that springs forth as a result of the collision of these two after-effects doesn't exactly scream artistic integrity.
Now that we have the origin story out of the way, let's dive head-first into what exactly makes this movie a rotten lump of hot garbage. First and foremost, the structure of the movie is exactly the same as the first. I understand that a sequel such as this should be constructed to deliver "more of the same". That is totally expected. What isn't expected is seeing the same exact plot twice, with few different jokes and characters. That makes the movie not only lazy, but insulting. Here's the plot of Hangover 2: Electric Boogaloo: The Wolf Pack (Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha) go to
Now, what "new" jokes and so-called humor the movie does have are nothing short of repugnant. This movie is not made for the audience that initially embraced it. I am part of that audience. This was made for the aforementioned "frat boy" crowd. I love "R"-rated, gross out comedy and black comedy (the darker the better). I honestly can't recall a movie I've seen that has "gone too far". This is different, though. The Hangover Episode II: The Phantom Finger is a mean-spirited movie with no regard for any of it's characters. What makes the first movie work so well are these same characters. Not only are they well-defined, but over the course of the movie, and the more horrific things they discover they had done the night before, they feel bad for their dirty deeds. They are normal and (mostly) good people caught up in an extraordinary situation.You can identify with their shock and horror around every turn. In the sequel, however, the characters look the same but have none of their former compassion or morality. They are just posable props that can be placed in whatever inappropriate situation Phillips can think up. (SPOILERS/) Phil gets shot in an alley in Bangkok and somehow doesn't care. He dusts himself off, gets some stitches, and continues on his merry way. Teddy, a musician and pre-med student, loses a finger. He literally shrugs and says, "Oh well". Stu discovers that he was anally raped during his blackout, and just takes it in stride as if it's something that happens all the time. Oh yeah, and a monkey gets shot purely for laughs. (/SPOILERS) None of this is funny. It's mean and off-putting. They alter, and in some cases permanently ruin, peoples lives and just walk away. The material is so putrid not even the immensely talented cast can overcome it. They too are victims of the film's evil deeds.
As an audience member, I feel like this film violated my trust. In making a sequel to a movie there are rules of etiquette that need to be followed. Rules like not alienating the audience that liked it in the first place, and not changing the characters the audience knows. The film feels like an exercise in arrogance from Todd Phillips. Like he can deliver anything he wants to an audience and they're too stupid to understand they've been had and will just eat it up anyway. I implore you to not see this movie. Nothing good can come of it and you will almost surely feel like you wasted your time and money. Grade: F
P.S. - I'll try and close this out on a positive note. The best part of going to see this trash is that I got the chance to see the trailer for 50/50. That movie looks fantastic and I cannot wait to see it.
The Good, The Bad, and The Marty
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-Jeremy
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