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Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

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The Hangover Part II (Film)

by Erin Free | May 25, 2011 10:24 | Edited May 25, 2011 10:26

While it doesn’t equal the comic genius of its predecessor, this terrifically charactersied and hilariously filthy sequel is definitely one to savour.

In creating a sequel to his 2009 mega-hit The Hangover, director Todd Phillips literally set himself a herculean task. Because the whole swing of the first film was situational - namely, a group of characters find themselves in a crazy, seemingly one-off situation - the film's manifest joys and surprises would be almost impossible to replicate. Like John McClane once again finding himself in a closed-in, claustrophobic, high-action set-up in Die Hard 2, could The Hangover's Phil (Bradley Cooper), Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Stu (Ed Helms) believably and authentically once again find themselves at the mercy of a monstrous morning-after-the-night-before? The answer is no, but it's a testament to the inspired lunacy of Phillips and his screenwriters, Craig Mazin and Scot Armstrong, that they actually make you forget the massive and wholly implausible contrivance at the centre of the film, and just roll with the flick's rapidly fired-off comedic punches. The original movie's voluble mix of raunch, absurdity, witty characterisation, surprise sentiment and gut-busting gags certainly isn't equaled here, but The Hangover Part II is far, far, far from the disappointment that it could have been.

 

The bachelor party this time is in Bangkok, perhaps the only place on the planet more debauched than the original's setting of Las Vegas. Stu is getting married to his new Thai sweetheart after apparently busting up with Heather Graham's single mother stripper from the first film, and his buddies Phil and Doug (Justin Bartha) make the trip, along with weirdo tag-along Alan, who squeezes his way into the action. Though Stu flatly states that there is to be no bachelor party, one thing leads to another, and before you can say, "Oh god, it's happened again", the boys have the hangover from hell, and the bride's sixteen-year-old, cello-playing, child-genius aspiring surgeon brother is missing...in Bangkok.

 

Structured almost beat-for-beat like the first film, The Hangover Part II hits big with its laughs right from the get-go. Any suggestions that the cast and crew are merely here for a cheap-and-easy cash-in are quickly put paid to, with Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms investing their now iconic characters with boundless zeal and energy. In fact, Galifianakis' Alan is perhaps even funnier this time around, with his bizarrely petulant man-child schtick pushed into interestingly new and twisted areas.

 

The Hangover Part II should also be commended for its foul mouthed willingness to cross the line...again and again. When the expected appearance of one of Bangkok's most infamous exports - namely, um, she-males - finally arrives, it is in an outrageous and highly involved way that very few would see, ahem, coming. Combined with the sleazy trespasses of Ken Jeong's returning drug-slammed criminal Mr. Chow (whose introduction in the sequel literally needs to be seen to be believed), and the film's general air of fetid ribaldry, it's at times difficult to comprehend that the toweringly and ingeniously filthy The Hangover Part II has actually been released by a major studio in conservative America.

 

Though there are long stretches of laugh-free action, and the cast-and-crew led removal of Mel Gibson from a cameo role actually hurts (obviously being a drunken anti-Semite is far worse in Hollywood than a convicted rapist, as the seemingly morally driven cast and crew obviously had no problem with boxer Mike Tyson returning for an unfortunately lame appearance), The Hangover Part II raises a glass and rises above its substantial hurdles to rate as another crud-encrusted comic gem. While not quite in the league of, say, The Empire Strikes Back or the film that it amusingly references with its title, The Godfather Part II, The Hangover Part II really is a sequel to savour...right to the bottom of the bottle.