The Hangover Part II is actually a remake of The Hangover we just saw, and watching this so soon after the first is a bit like spending the evening with an ageing aunt who’s suffering from dementia. After the first 10 minutes you start to feel like you’re being punished for something you know you didn’t do.
Stuart and Lauren (in the first Hangover, it was Doug and Tracy) are about to get married. Two days before the wedding, the four men in the wedding party – Doug, Phil, Stu and Alan, take Lauren’s father’s beloved son Teddy (in the first Hangover, they took Tracy’s father’s beloved Mercedes) for a drink on the beach (it was a stag party in The Hangover).
The morning after, they wake up with terrible hangovers and can’t remember what happened since they took their first drink twelve hours before. There are things in their room that shouldn’t be there and things that should be there that aren’t, the most important of the latter being Teddy (in the first Hangover, it was Doug).
The guys search for Teddy (Doug) knowing if they don’t find him they’re going to have to explain to Lauren (Tracy in Hangover) why they are not back and that they may not be able to find Teddy (Doug) in time for the wedding.
In the absence of anything remotely original, the filmmakers decided to liven things up with what could probably be described as soft porn and then added a little blood and guts for texture. We are subject to the sight of two penises (three counting the monkey’s) and one severed finger, the latter leaving the realms of comedy and showing how completely bereft of ideas the writers really are.
Despite being giving paramount importance throughout the story, the severed finger is given no pay-off at the end but, having said that, nothing else has a resolution either. In the absence of a finale with something to say, the ex-boxer who did a cameo in the first Hangover is dragged back in to rap out a song. (I know that’s technically a spoiler but so is the entire first film).
The budget for the original Hangover was $40 million, and it grossed $460 million. The budget for Hangover Part 11 is $80 million (yes, that’s right, everyone got paid double) so Warner Bros are obviously confident the same audience are going to come back for more. This could happen, of course, but these movie-goers might also think that their intelligence is being insulted and instead opt to spend the evening with that ageing aunt as there’s always a chance she might have a few lucid moments and, unlike this film, give them a few moments of something they can actually enjoy.
RELEASE DATES
Belgium – 25 May 2011
France – 25 May 2011
Italy – 25 May 2011
Sweden – 25 May 2011
Argentina – 26 May 2011
Australia – 26 May 2011
Canada – 26 May 2011
Chile – 26 May 2011
Croatia – 26 May 2011
Denmark – 26 May 2011
Hungary – 26 May 2011
Ireland – 26 May 2011
Netherlands – 26 May 2011
Peru – 26 May 2011
Slovenia – 26 May 2011
Thailand – 26 May 2011
UK – 26 May 2011
USA – 26 May 2011
Brazil – 27 May 2011
Estonia – 27 May 2011
Finland – 27 May 2011
Norway – 27 May 2011
Paraguay – 27 May 2011
Venezuela – 27 May 2011
Germany – 2 June 2011
Greece – 2 June 2011
Hong Kong – 2 June 2011
Portugal – 2 June 2011
Singapore – 2 June 2011
Poland – 3 June 2011
Turkey – 3 June 2011
Georgia – 16 June 2011
Spain – 24 June 2011
Japan – 1 July 2011
