Synopsis: The guys are at it again, as Stu (played by Ed Helms), Phil (Bradley Cooper), Alan (Zach Galifianakis), and Doug (Justin Bartha) go to Thailand to celebrate Stu's upcoming marriage to Lauren (Jamie Chung); who happens to be a far better person to him than his previous fiancee. Though he's hated by Lauren's father's (Nirut Sirijanya), Stu is adored by her brother Teddy (Mason Lee), so he includes him in their partying plans in Bangkok (much to Alan's chagrin.) Well, once again the boys party to hard, and once again they lose another member of the party (though it's not Doug this time, as he spends most of the movie hanging out at the resort being the boring married guy.) The difference is that Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong) is now responsible for some of the trouble the boys are involved in and a chain-smoking monkey has engaged them on their travels. The group goes through a bunch of ridiculous scenarios in an attempt to retrace their steps and to explain what occurred the night before and to find their missing comrade. Will they get back to the wedding unscathed and intact? Will Stu earn the respect of Lauren's father? Will Alan ever grow up or will he always be a man-child?
While the first Hangover was laugh-out-loud funny, this one wasn't nearly as humorous. However, the action sequences were far more intense than what you saw in the first film, so if you were watching this as you were any type of action movie, then it could have been very enjoyable. However, the ending of the film killed any redeeming factor that the movie leading up to it would have offered. When Stu told off his previous fiancee, it was one of the moments where everyone in the theater stood up and cheered him on. Now when he stands up to Lauren's father at the end, the nonsense that comes out of his mouth (and the father's subsequent reaction) is actually less believable than everything else that occurred leading up to it (and believe me, their misadventures in this film were certainly more ridiculous than the first film.) Part of a movie is wanting to see it again, not to kill 90 minutes of buildup with a weak climax during the last 10 minutes of the film. I think I read somewhere that Todd Richards is going to hold off on a Hangover 3 movie and frankly, that's probably a solid plan if they want to inject the franchise with some fresh ideas.
If you were a massive fan of the first film, you can check this out for continuity purposes. If you're expecting this to be above and beyond the first film, however, prepare to be disappointed.
