To dispense with a lengthy plot synopsis for The Hangover: Part II would be a profound waste of the time it would take me to write it and you to read it. The Hangover: Part II is the exact same movie as its predecessor down to nearly every single narrative beat. While there’s certainly something to be said for not reinventing the wheel on the most successful R-rated comedy of all time, this is not a case of imitation being the sincerest form of flattery—it is indolent narcissism of the most nauseating kind.

The first Hangover was vulgar and obscene, but it was also quite funny. This time around, there are very few overtly funny bits. Instead, the act of watching quickly becomes rote, tedious and mechanical. While setting the action in Bangkok allows for some fun with culture shock and allows our Americans to behave badly in a city far more depraved even than Las Vegas, it also leads to inevitable moments of stereotypes and racism—all in the name of laughs, of course.

The humor in The Hangover: Part II comes as a result of shock value, not because something is inherently funny. The film is built on a series of increasingly uncomfortable moments; it is the difference between laughing with someone and laughing at them. There is something disturbingly sociopathic about how The Hangover pays for its laughs. The film invites us to find humor in other people’s pain and distress and while this has been, to one degree or another, a staple of comedy since the very beginning, The Hangover takes it to a whole new level.

Sociologists describe this phenomenon as schadenfreude, the delighting in the misfortune of others. While there is some truth to the idea that “the worse you look, the better I look,” taking delight in such a scenario hardly reflects well on me. Perhaps that explains why researchers have found that those who feel schadenfreude most often are those with the lowest levels of self-esteem. Or, perhaps it is merely because the characters in The Hangover: Part II are so profoundly noxious, unlikable and unredeemable that we delight in their discomfort as we might that of a villain.

The Law of Diminishing Returns is enough to gut this cinematic carbon copy of anything compelling. The Hangover: Part II is shamelessly thrown together for the clear and all too evident purpose of taking money out of your wallet and giving it to the people in front of and behind the camera.

© Copyright 2011 Brandon Fibbs. All rights reserved.

Directed by Todd Phillips
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, Paul Giamatti, Mason Lee, Jamie Chung, Nirut Sirichanya, Mike Tyson, Jeffrey Tambor, Sasha Barrese, Gillian Vigman, Bryan Callen, Yasmin Lee, Sondra Currie, Nick Cassavetes
Rated R for pervasive language, strong sexual content including graphic nudity, drug use and brief violent images.
Running Time: 102 minutes