'The Hangover Part II' - Same Story, Different Place

Most of you reading this review have already heard through friends,  chatter and of course the social media about people's thoughts and opinions of Todd Phillips follow up to his 2009 hit comedy. Before walking into this theater I will admit I felt a little skeptical about this film from the reviews and thoughts I had heard before I go to the theaters. Though it is a film that is more or less the same as it's predecessor, The Hangover Part II still delivers plenty of laughs, craziness and insanity we witnessed in Vegas. 

Everything in this film is pretty much a carbon copy of the first one, right from the opening credits to the token band at the end of the wedding (though this time unfortunately The Dan Band was replaced by some an "Asian Version"). The pace and story line was also almost identical to the original, but this time with a dialogue that felt a little cheesy at sometimes. Laughs were forced on occasion (which one can only expect from a sequel) but still offered some fresh humor built on the previous screenplay from the first film. The backdrop of Thailand also added to the fresh humor of different cultures colliding together in a wild wedding affair, especially in the darkest alley's and shit house hotels of Bangkok. The Asia culture mixed with the guys knack for getting themselves into these situations led to plenty of great laughs, as well as disturbed faces. 

The cast was great as you would expect and yes the rumors are true Ken Jeong kinda stole the spotlight away from Galifianakis in this one. I'm not taking away anything in Galifianakis's performance cause it was still great but Jeong was utterly hilarious in this film whenever he was on screen. Bradley Cooper the so-called "leader" of the group played his role to a tee like he did with The Hangover. Ed Helms was great in this one especially this his Mike Tyson tattoo and smoking hot wife, Jaime Chung. Justin Bartha's role was diminished drastically in this film and instead of being the lost one in it, plays the role of the responsible friend keeping their friends drunken binge a secret from the bride and her family. He role was actually replaced by Mason Lee (playing the guy they had lost) and he did a pretty good job at keeping up with the crazy cast for a pretty much unknown actor.

All in all Phillips did a great job following up his huge 2009 comedic success. He use of the same screenplay and plot allowed for little originality but tons of familiarity that lent to similar situations, instances and craziness we saw in the first movie. The audience is able to connect with the characters once again, almost as if they never left our lives because of this. Although at times the movie felt a little cheesy and stupid, it definitely was still a solid sequel. Though there has been criticisms about the films originality (as I just stated), anyone who loved The Hangover will not be disappointed with this sequel as it offers tons of laughs and grotesque shit for all moviegoers. I will give this film a B- simply because it does what you expect, entertain with Phillips hilarious humor we witnessed in the first one, yet isn't quite on par with it as we all pretty much expected. If you wanna see the next chapter in the ground breaking success of this comedic franchise, get to a theater near you!