Very Bad Trip 2

Whilst the plot is basically the same as it's predecessor, The Hangover Part II is still a great comedy sequel. Once again, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis are all great with really good chemistry and Ken Jeong is also great. Todd Philips' direction is fantastic and it's extremely well filmed and well paced. It's consistently really funny. The soundtrack is great and the music by Christophe Beck is good.

The gang is back. This time Stu is getting married to Lauren in Thailand. After a quiet night, Stu, Alan and Phil wake up in a seedy apartment in Bangkok. Doug is back at the resort, but Lauren's brother Teddy is missing. There's a monkey with a severed finger, Alan's head is shaved, Stu has a tattoo on his face, and they can't remember any of it. And Mr Chow is back.

This is just like the first one, except this one is crazier and in Bankok. Everything is bigger. Alan is crazier. Mr Chow is more ridiculous. The humor is cruder. It's essentially repeating the same story and some dismiss it for that. I personally don't.

The premise of The Hangover: Part II is nearly identical to the first – the same "wolfpack" from the first movie, Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Doug (Justin Bartha) and the not entirely welcome man- child, Alan (Zach Galifianakis), throw a wild, out-of-control bachelor party that results in the loss of an important character.

At first blush, it seemed as though this movie, with its recycled premise and familiar characters another painfully obvious attempt to wring the last few cents out of a Hollywood cash cow. However, director Todd Phillips, easily quiets these criticisms by playfully mocking the similarities and by upping the raunchiness, insanity, and humor of the movie.

Galifianakis once again steals the show as the perfectly crafted weirdo Alan, who's sporadic and bizarre interjections enliven momentary lulls in the movie. Alan's antics are further accentuated by the return of the humorous and insane criminal, Chow (Ken Jeong). Combined with new, shockingly outrageous situations, the duo keeps the laughs coming and in doing so gets the audience to forget the movie's lack of originality.

Regardless of my strong recommendation, wholesome moviegoers and those who are wholeheartedly convinced that this movie is nothing but a remake should skip The Hangover: Part II because, to be honest, this isn't a movie to be taken seriously. It is not a cinematic masterpiece by any stretch and the storyline is weak at best, but if you're willing to venture into the bowels of Bangkok for a raunchy, silly, sophomoric, and extremely amusing movie, call up your wolf pack and head to see an amusing movie you'll never forget – hopefully.

What made The Hangover fun and entertaining unfortunately leads to predicatability in The Hangover II. The only reason I got any enjoyment out of this movie at all was because I liked the characters in the first movie. I wish they had tried to do something fresh with the story and the characters, but it was the same old gags.

When I first saw the original Hangover, I thought the movie might become a classic comedy. But honestly after watching it a few times, it seems less funny where as many comedies you pick up on small things on multiple viewings that make the movie even funnier. With the Hangover, the element of surprise is lost the next time around and the story loses its appeal.

So taking what I just said into account, if you've watched the first movie multiple times and then have expectations that the second movie will be a fun adventure with fun surprises around the corner, you will be somewhat disappointed. The writers even wrote in another animal with the Monkey (Tiger first film) and baby with the old Monk (baby first film). The gags just didn't seem quite as funny the second time around.

There was a lot of hype leading to the release of this movie. In fact, right after the first film was released rumors that a second was on the way already surfaced. Really a disappointing film of what might have become a pretty fun movie franchise. Rating 6 of 10 and this is being nice because like I said, I got some enjoyment out of the film simply because seeing some of the same characters from the first movie was nostalgic.

Even though this movie was almost the exact same plots as part 1 I really didn't care becuase it was still great and made me laugh a ton plus it was much crazier than the first.