Hangover Part II, The

The first “Hangover” did not come out that long ago but it’s still hard to remember exactly what it meant to the zeitgeist when it did. Despite having a very thin premise, it was without a doubt the funniest movie to come out that year. It took three guys who were by no means stars at that point, including Bradley Cooper, and made them all bona fide celebrities. It made Zach Galifianakis a household name to people who had never ever seen his standup before. Of course with such a smash hit on their hands, they were going to make a sequel no matter what. Nobody can resist milking the cash cow.

Does a movie like this warrant a sequel? Can’t we just let original works stand on their own merit without creating a franchise? There is a difference between a film that was envisioned as a series and a film that is forced into one, not to mention the current trend of stretching one movie over two parts just to make twice the money; the most despicable side of filmmaking. The problem with this kind of sequel lies in determining what about the movie made it a success in the first place. You could argue very astutely that the characters were so likable we would watch them do anything. However, much to the disappointment of most people, the filmmakers decided that it was the plot, and so repeated it… almost exactly.

The “Hangover 2” took almost every single memorable moment from the first one and simply repeated it. Poor Justin Bartha wasn’t even allowed to be in on the fun this time. Instead of a tooth missing Ed Helms has a tattoo. Instead of a baby there is a monkey. Ed Helms even sings another song, and Mike Tyson shows up for absolutely no reason! For the most part it is exactly the same movie, and even worse than that it is an inferior version. It was already able to gross a lot of money in one weekend based on people’s expectations, and they are no doubt planning a third one as we speak. Can’t we see these guys have a new adventure? How many times can the same thing happen? How many of them are going to get married? Certainly the third one won’t have as big a box office opening because now the bar has been drastically lowered. Just go rent the first one, it is infinitely re-watchable.