I'll dispense with a plot synopsis, suffice to say that Justin Bartha's lost groom has been replaced with Mason Lee(son of Ang)'s almost painfully stereotyped Asian-American teenager, who , you guessed it , gets . . lost . .again, after yet another night with the wild and crazy guys . . .
What ensues is a chase around Bangkok where the trio run into a bizarre mix of ladyboys , violent monks and , particularly disturbing , a drug peddling monkey.The problem however this time out is this : where the first film threw a couple of genuine curveballs out there and garnered more laughs than expected , largely through Zach Galifinakis' excellently skewed man child Alan, this time around, the writers settle for repeating almost exactly the same plot ,to the point where the repeated references to the first film are before long enough to make one wince.Add to this the fact that Alan , the first film's only half interesting character , is reduced to a few throwaway encounters with the aforementioned monkey, and one admittedly funny engagement party speech. Paul Giamatti also goes tragically to waste, a gift for comedy timing squandered in the flurry of shouting and swearing that constitutes the main characters' dialogue this time around.
That's not to say it's all bad though.Director Todd Philips shoots Bangkok beautifully , and the opening sequence is visually arresting,as is a bizarre sequence where the quartet's antics are played out by four adolescent boys in a dream sequence . Ken Leung's Chow is also still a hoot , pretty much stealing whatever scene he's in .Overall , The Hangover 2 just about passes muster , and there are worse ways to kill ninety minutes . But please, for the love of God , let this be the last one.
Rating 4/10
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