"Destined to sit in the shadow of it’s predecessor"

The comedy sequel has to be one of the hardest films on the planet to pull off.  Often they fall short of the original by trying too hard to replicate its success, and end up either being pale imitations, or ridiculously over the top flops, with very few going on to replicate the success of the predecessors.

How then, does one go about making a sequel to not just a good comedy, but the Golden Globe winning Hangover from 2009.  Based on the evidence, the answer is you don’t – you choose to make the exact same film, put it in a different location, and hope no one notices.

Swapping the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas for the dirty and dangerous streets of Bangkok, we see the return of the Wolfpack - Stu, Phil, Doug and Alan – as they’re once again let loose for a night of mayhem, this time to celebrate the impending marriage of Stu to his lovely bride to be Lauren.

The Hangover: Part II is essentially a carbon copy of the first film.  It’s set around a bachelor party, the guys all get drugged and can’t remember anything, the bulk of the film is set around trying to find one of the group who isn’t there when they wake up, and there’s a random animal in the room in the morning.

Now I would be lying if I said that The Hangover: Part II wasn’t funny – even if the jokes are identical to the first movie, they’re still bloody good jokes.  The problem is that, for want of a better phrase, “familiarity breeds contempt”.  The plot is SO similar that there are no surprises – one of the best things about the original was the way that it was so outrageous it caught you off guard – it’s a shame the same can’t be said about the sequel.