The Hangover Part II could have easily been one of the best comedies of the summer, but instead of embracing the challenge of besting the first film, it hides behind the popularity of its predecessor, becoming nothing more than an uninspired copy.

The film opens up on Phil exclaiming that “it happened again,” and these words could only be truer had he said, “All this has happened before, and all this will happen again.”  But I don’t really take him to be a Battlestar Galactica fan.  Point is, the writers are obviously a fan of Mad Libs and draw from this passion to create this sequel:  While celebrating [name]’s impending wedding in [location], Phil, Stu, and Alan wake up in a hotel room having no recollection of the night before.  While looking around the room they realize that [name] is missing, Stu has [alteration to face], and they have somehow come into possession of a [animal].  At some point they believe that they have found the missing person, but when they go to the [location] to retrieve him they realize it is not the same person.  Mr. Chow jumps out of the [container] to attack them, [no-no bits] are all around, and when all leads have been explored something clicks and they realize the missing person was on/in the [location] the whole time.  The end. [Read more...]