Hangover II

Hangover Takes Bad Below Basement Benchmark
Hangover II, R, **1/2, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifanakis, Justin Bartha, Paul Giamatti, Ken Jeong. Warner Bros. film. Director Toddy Phillips. Length: 101 minutes.

“Hangover II” takes the bachelor party story to a new low. This time they push the envelope, not so much as extending it, but placing the benchmark deep in the gutter and surpassing it.
I must say that I enjoyed the first Hangover much more than this one. Zach Galifanakis dropped dialogue like a limb falling from a tree. His lines were so off-the-wall that one could not keep from laughing. One line in the first movie made me think that I should not be laughing at this scene, but it was hilarious and only a movie. It seems one of the old group is going to get married. This time it is the dentist Stu (Ed Helms). The lady he is going to marry Lauren (Jamie Chung) is from Thailand, so they are going to be married there. Of course her father (Nirut Sirchanya) does not like Stu and he makes it very clear.
Stu wants his friends to travel with him to Thailand and participate in the wedding.
Considering what happened at the last bachelor’s party, Stu does not want to invite Alan (Zach Galifanakies) Alan is very hurt over not being a part of the group. Who can blame Stu considering he lost a tooth, lost one of their friends, and they had a night of debauchery no one could remember as a result of Alan. However, small clues surfaced, and they put things together. This is the premise of “Hangover II.” The originality taking place in this one is over the top decadence, drug deals, and events that cannot be mentioned in a family newspaper.
Stu decides to invite Zach, and the old friends fly to Thailand for the wedding. Phil (Bradley Cooper) the one semi-intelligent guy in the group. Alan, the guy with some very funny comedic lines does not bring as much laugh out loud hilarity as I expected.
The group decides to have one beer, since they do not want to relive anything like what happened Las Vegas last time. Well guess what?
The fun loving group takes Teddy (Mason Lee) with them to the beach. He is the brother of Stu’s fiancée Lauren. Young Teddy is the guy they lose this time. I am not really spoiling the plot, because it follows the same story as the last time with a few changes and a different venue.
They have their one brew on the beach in Thailand where the wedding is going to take place, and they wake up in Bangkok without knowing how they got there or what happened. Sound familiar.
Stu has a tattoo on his face, and Alan has a shaved head. They cannot find Teddy. However, they did find something that belonged to Teddy. I will not give that away. There are several guest appearances throughout this movie which includes Nick Cassavetes, Paul Giamatti, and Mike Tyson.
As the lyrics say in the 1984 One Night in Bangkok by Murray Head “One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble - Can't be too careful with your company - I can feel the devil walking next to me.”
The group should have heeded the above lyrics. Proceed with caution when watching this one. Be sure that no one under age sees it. This is my review of “Hangover II.”
I was disappointed with this outing. However, it is up to the reader. Just be warned of the inappropriate language, nudity, drug use, pervasive behavior, and about everything that could be brought to the screen from below the bad basement bin.