The Hangover Part II (2011)

Yes, it's a lot like the first but Jack and I laughed anyway at this raunchy, profane sequel to The Hangover. There's great location photography in Thailand, a kick-ass soundtrack, same leading men, same absent Doug, same monkey (read this), same director, Todd Phillips, and same cinematographer, Lawrence Sher. David Denby in The New Yorker's review (spoilers in the link, so read it later) says, "The two movies offer a comedy of types, a kind of Freudian allegory, with Bradley Cooper enacting the ego, Ed Helms the superego, and Zach Galifianakis the id. Or, to put it more simply, aggression, caution, and stupidity." I'm a big Ed Helms fan, and he is at the center of this one, even singing a funny parody of Allentown on a boat. This time it took me at least half the movie to let go and laugh at Galifianakis' mean spirited behavior, but eventually I did. And now that I'm so familiar with Ken Jeong from Community, I got him, too.

One reason to see this on the big screen is the possibility that Mike Tyson's tattoo artist wins his copyright infringement case. If you have seen the poster you know that Helms' character wakes up the morning after with a tribal tattoo on his face: the same one that Tyson sports in real life. The artist who designed it tried to hold up the movie's release last month. A judge ruled against it, but the case is still in court (read this). I read somewhere that if the studio loses, the tattoo will be digitally altered in the DVD (and at least one line will have to be changed as well). This is the top grossing movie in theatres now (here's the chart--you can sort by any of the words in the header line), having raked in $215,700,000 so far, and was #3 for last weekend alone, so the artist will undoubtedly keep at it, with some deep pockets to pick.  Despite those big piles of money, the critics have mostly hated it, certifying it rotten on rottentomatoes with 35%, although 62% of viewers weighed in with positive reviews.

The soundtrack for purchase (click Listen to all on this link) has 12 songs on it. But there's more music in the movie, as detailed by my fellow blogger monteluz (and annotated by his/her readers) on the reelsoundtrack blog. The wonderful composer Christophe Beck (I wrote about him in Cedar Rapids) worked on this, and, although none of these tracks are available for purchase, he has once again posted clips on his own website.

Oh, and Jack says to tell you that, unlike The Tree of Life, he is smart enough to understand this one. I will add that one should be old enough and relaxed enough not to be put off by some extreme sexual situations and nudity played for laughs, including (just like the last one) in the final photo essay.