Oops, they did it again\u2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>The Hangover Part II <\/em>is either a profound and mournful examination of human nature and the problem of living with sin in a world where redemption is not possible or it is a failed attempt at comedy.<\/p>\nSpoilers ahead.<\/p>\n
Okay, truth be told The Hangover<\/em> is probably a film that can\u2019t work with a sequel. The premise is the absurd, perfect-storm of events, so a repeat can only go the ironical, self-aware route (\u201cWe did it again,\u201d Phil says on the cellphone, and if they had just queued Brittany Spears at that point instead of Billy Joel I would have given them four stars) if it wants to stay a comedy.<\/p>\nPart II<\/em> chooses instead to go the route of having the characters shocked and dumbfounded at the extent of what is happening to them. That\u2019s marginally credible, but it isn\u2019t very funny.<\/p>\nThere are moments, though, when the film appears to give up on comedy altogether and has the characters, Stu, especially, make a stab at trying to bridge the gulf between their (and our) real world and the world they inhabit for the bulk of such films. These are not sustained, but, then, how could they be, even if it were a serious film? After Stu finds out that he has had intercourse with a she-male (hey, can\u2019t have a comedy these days without some good old fashioned homophobic sex panic, can we?) the day before his wedding, his best friend, Phil (Bradley Cooper) advises him to forget about it. That\u2019s what we do, Phil, opines\u2013and for a moment, the \u201cwe\u201d become anagogical rather than particular\u2013we do all sorts of crazy stuff and then we (try to) forget about it. When Stu laments that he has a \u201cdemon inside me,\u201d for one, brief, intoxicating second I thought I had been transported to an alternate reality in which Hollywood films meaningfully explored their premises.<\/p>\n
What a movie that would be, where characters who have had the experiences of Stu, Phil, and Alan, face the horrific question of how to continue living after they\u2019ve come out alive, where \u201cnormal\u201d is not a location to get back to but a(n illusory) state that is shattered by the haunting knowledge of both what one has done and what one is capable of doing. Perhaps it could be written by David Simon (squint real hard and you might see a resemblance between Alan\u2019s situation and Bubbles\u2019 in The Wire<\/em>) or directed by Terence Malick or Paul Thomas Anderson.<\/p>\nThe film reminds one of a touring pop band that has played the same setlist in each locale for the past week. Occasionally sparks of energy will remind you of how great particular songs were the first time you heard them, but mostly they provide just enough contrast to make you realize the band is going through the motions, just enough hope that they will break out of it and experiment or improvise, and that much more disappointed when they fall back into autopilot.<\/p>\n
Nibbling around the edges of the experience are ideas, though. In threads that go nowhere (such as Alan\u2019s alleged trauma at the beginning of the film) and emotions that ooze out even when they have no real objective correlative (such as the sadness of monkeys that can\u2019t Skype)\u00a0are a film that Todd Phillips either wanted to make and couldn\u2019t or tried to make and couldn\u2019t quite pull off.<\/p>\n
The moment where I actually fooled myself into thinking the film might actually have something to say about what it would be like to be the people these things happened to evaporated like dew in a June morning. We were back to jokes about monkeys giving monks fellatio and how being wasted makes us do really hilarious stuff like cutting off our own fingers. I will have forgotten the names and most of the plot of The Hangover Part II<\/em> in time to go to Part III<\/em> whenever it comes out, but I\u2019ll remember the sadness for awhile. And when I sleep tonight, I suspect I may dream of a Hangover Part II<\/em>\/Tree of Life<\/em> mashup.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hangover Part II is either a profound and mournful examination of human nature and the problem of living with sin in a world where redemption is not possible or it is a failed attempt at comedy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1555,"featured_media":11254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[579,580],"class_list":["post-3232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-the-hangover-part-ii","tag-todd-phillips"],"yoast_head":"\n
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