By Alex Geli –
Yes, you may be coming from a math final and a trip to the nurse to get some Advil for your headache, but here’s another equation for you:
The Hangover, plus a drug dealing monkey, minus Zach Galifianakis’ hair, plus a new tattoo, minus one-fifth of a human hand, equals the much anticipated sequel to the top grossing comedy of all time.
The Hangover Part II.
When the clock struck midnight on Thursday, May 26, the wolfpack was officially at it again. This time, though, they really dug themselves into an even deeper hole.
Phil, played by Bradley Cooper, had a similar conversation with Tracy, wife of Justin Bartha’s character, Doug, who is played by Sarah Baresse, as in the first Hangover in the beginning of the second.
Phil: “Tracy, I’m sorry.”
Tracy: “Where the (heck) are you?”
Phil: (sigh) “It happened again.”
Tracy: “Don’t say that.”
Phil: “No, this time we really (messed) up.”
Tracy: “What the (heck) is wrong with you three?”
Phil: “So much ‘Trace,’ I don’t even know where to begin.”
Well, Phil, to help jog your memory, the night all begins around a campfire in Thailand where Stu, played by Ed Helms. With a couple bags of marshmallows, thanks to the regrettably invited Alan, played by Galifianakis, the wolfpack plus Teddy, Stu’s soon-to-be goody good brother-in-law who is played by Mason Lee, are just enjoying a few drinks and relaxing.
By the time the night was over, Alan got a haircut, Stu got a tattoo, Phil was sweaty…, Teddy lost a finger, they lost Teddy and they were visited by an old friend.
Ken Jeong, who played Mr. Chow in the first Hangover, was back and ready for round two: less furious and more profane, party-happy, making dirty jokes and using drugs. To think the real-life Jeong is actually a certified doctor is dumbfounding. Although he returned to the sequel, it didn’t take long for him to end up in an ice box with no heart rate due to OD-ing on cocaine.
The waking up scene was similar to the first Hangover, with an additional cockroach.
Phil awakens, drenched in his own sweat, only to be greeted by Alan who tumbles off the bunk bed and lands on the floor with a big, “THUD!” They venture around the room – a room which they have no idea how or when they got in – and find, not a tiger, but Stu in the bathroom, facing the opposite way. A moan and a shift of the body later, Stu is faced with his new friend on the right side of his face: a tattoo similar to the one on boxer Mike Tyson.
“You’re going to freak out, but it’s going to be okay,” Phil said to him, not really helping the situation at all.
The tattoo is not the only new friend that the wolfpack met in that instance. A monkey with a Rolling Stones jacket on was also found in the vacant hotel room. After a scuffle on what is exactly under a blanket on the floor, it turns out to be Chow. The crowd was certainly pleased by the reappearance of the rather comfortable-with-his-body character.
There was one problem as they did a head count. Teddy was gone. The only evidence and remains from the scene was his finger still harnessed by his crimson Stanford University ring lying in a bucket of water.
Lots of “Oh my God!’s,” “What is going on?!’s” and “What the (bleep)!’s” occurred throughout the movie – for good reason.
After waking up, they take a wild ride on the find-what-the-heck-happened-last-night train, stopping at places like a police station, a monastery that Alan compares to “a P.F. Chang’s,” a club and ultimately ending up in a boat on dry ground, thanks to the great driving of “fat Jesus.”
The Hangover Part II’s main course consisted of raunchiness, comedy, drugs, a side of nudity and Tiramike Tyson – clever, I know – for dessert, just like the first one. In fact, reviews around the internet and among students here at Penn Manor say that the sequel is just like part I, just in another location: Bangkok, Thailand.
I can’t blame them for making basically the same movie because, well, it worked the first time so why not do it again?
This is what made the first one successful and will surely do the same for the second: a toast followed by a crazy night, waking up with animals made more for the jungle than a hotel room, not remembering what they did, where they did it and with whom they did it with, losing a friend, going to search for the friend, then finally rushing to a wedding with [hopefully (watch and find out)] the correct number of people and ending off with another highlight reel of R-rated photos while the credits role and Flo Rida serenades you with his rapping.
You can thank Stu for inviting Alan and who, as a result, gets drugged for a second time and leads them to a very eventful day attempting to grasp the fact that this night actually happened… again.
“All I wanted was a bachelor brunch,” Stu said.