The Hangover Part 2 Netflix

[Bertoldo Beyer]

Thereare some mixed messages here. Although the take-away is to stick by your friends, the film also says that those same friends can get you into a lot of tight spots. And other so-called friends might even try to drug you...

While some of the characters spend much of the movie lying -- and their behavior is certainly far from exemplary -- Stu ultimately decides to be completely honest about (almost) all of the group's misadventures and stands up to his contemptuous father-in-law.

Explicit discussions about sexual encounters with prostitutes. Several full-frontal shots featuring pre-operative transgender characters, who have breasts and penises (all are visible). Other scenes with topless women. Spoiler alert: The ending features a montage of photos from the lost night that includes a variety of sexually explicit images that border on pornography.

Some drinking on screen, and many references to a night of debauchery that clearly involved lots of liquor. Some of the lowlights from the night are seen in a flashback scene in which the main characters are all portrayed as pre-teen boys who are drinking heavily and engaging in all manner of drunken misbehavior. One character snorts cocaine, and a drug deal is an important plot point. The film also features a monkey that smokes cigarettes.

Parents need to know that, in attempting to surpass the original film, this R-rated comedy sequel is even cruder and more explicit than the first installment (i.e. full-frontal shots of pre-operative transgender characters). This time around, the three main characters wake up in Bangkok with no memory of what transpired the previous night, only to learn that their evening included drug deals, a severed finger, plenty of drugs and drinking, and a surprising encounter with strippers. All of this is punctuated with non-stop swearing, including tons of F-bombs. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.

Here we go again. On the eve of his wedding, Stu (Ed Helms) wakes up in a dingy hotel room in Bangkok, along with Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis), all badly hung over. What transpired the night before? None of them can remember, but clearly it was over-the-top intense, with Stu's new facial tattoo as a lovely memento. And, wait -- where's Stu's soon-to-be teenage brother-in-law, Teddy (Mason Lee)? As they search for their missing pal, the gang tries to fill in the gaps in their memories.

The genius of the first Hangover is that it shocked you into hilarity with its then-unparalleled raunch and insanity; so it's no surprise that lightning can't be bottled twice. This sequel pales so much in comparison that it's nearly transparent. You know a sequel's in trouble when it has to heavily reference -- no, patently copy -- its predecessor. (Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, please laugh.)

Nearly everything in the THE HANGOVER 2 has a specific parallel to what we saw in the first movie. There's no tiger, but there's a monkey. It's not the same guy getting married, but there's a wedding -- and a missing member of the wedding party. And yes, the gang, who's all here, has yet another ridiculously wacky bachelor party. And once again, Stu wakes to find himself disfigured. Though the storyline has been transplanted overseas, it does nothing but advance the same tired jokes about Thailand. Is this the best the filmmakers can do? Thank goodness, then, for the cast's chemistry, which is the film's saving grace. Still, what a disappointment! This hangover badly needs a cure.

Is this some kind of a test? "The Hangover, Part II" plays like a challenge to the audience's capacity for raunchiness. It gets laughs, but some of them are in disbelief. As if making sure no one was not offended, it has a montage of still photos over the closing titles that include one cruel shot that director Todd Phillips should never, ever have used. The MPAA's elaboration of the film's R rating says the movie has "pervasive language, strong sexual content including graphic nudity, drug use and brief violent images." Also other stuff. Maybe their space was limited.

It's not that I was shocked. This is a raunch fest, yes, but not an offense against humanity (except for that photo, which is a desecration of one of the two most famous photos to come out of the Vietnam War). The movie has its share of laughs. There's a wedding toast that deserves some sort of award for deliberate social embarrassment. And Alan (Zach Galifianakis), the character who stole much of the original 2009 film, walks off with a lot of this one, too.

If you saw that earlier film (which grossed $485 million, so you may have), there's not much need for me to describe the plot this time. It's the same story. Director Todd Phillips seems to have taken "The Hangover" screenplay and moved it laterally from Las Vegas to Bangkok while retaining the same sequence of scenes: Call to bewildered bride to be, flashback to wedding plans, ill-advised bachelor party, four friends waking up with terminal hangovers in unfamiliar hotel room, ominous signs of debauchery, desperate quest to discover what happened, etc.

As the film opens, a few years have passed. The dentist Stu (Ed Helms) is now the prospective groom. He's engaged to a beautiful Thai woman named Lauren (Jamie Chung). Her father (Nirut Sirichanya) is not happy. His son, Teddy (Mason Lee), is a brilliant 16-year-old pre-med student at Stanford, and the father tells Stu: "In this country, we do not consider a dentist a doctor." At a pre-wedding feast, he calmly and implacably offers a toast comparing Stu to a flavorless rice pudding.

Then the lads go down to the beach for one (1) beer, and the next thing they know they're regaining consciousness in a sleazy Bangkok fleabag, Stu has a facial tattoo, and young Teddy is missing, except for a severed finger wearing a Stanford class ring. That sets off their search through the city's underbelly for people who might be able to help them reconstruct the missing hours? Days? Let me just observe that no search of the Bangkok underbelly that involves Ping-Pong balls is going to be altogether reassuring.

Their adventures are punctuated by a series of behavioral eruptions by Alan (Galifianakis), who links passive aggression with clueless trouble-making. These interventions have a certain charm, but Alan's funniest scene takes place in his own bedroom, before he ever gets to Thailand. Describing himself as a "stay-at-home son," he issues commands to his mother through a speaker system and seems determined to remain a fanboy for life. This character, as seen in this scene, could inspire a movie of its own that I would pay good money to see. (Galifianakis should regrow his hair, however; I like him looking like a shaggy bear more than like the bouncer in a biker bar.)

While many weekend comedies these days seem too timidly in search of the PG-13, "The Hangover" embraced its R, and "Part II" seems to be testing the MPAA's patience. I wonder if there will be an unrated director's cut. The sequel repeats the medical miracle of the first film, in that the characters are able to regain consciousness after horrifying debauches and quickly return to the land of the living. In real life, they'd check into themselves into an emergency room.

Streaming fans on Netflix UK have done it again. Despite the streamer having a constant stream of new original movies uploaded weekly, movie watchers have a habit of flocking to older hits when they're added to the streamer over newer ones, and that's the case right now.

The Hangover as well as its two sequels were added to Netflix UK on Wednesday, September 6, and at the time of writing a week later all three of them are sitting comfortably on the streamer's top 10 list of most-streaming movies.

These movies, starring Bradley Cooper alongside Ed Helms and Zack Galifianakis, follow the continuing misadventures of a group of friends who repeatedly find themselves picking up the pieces after wild nights of partying.

The first sequel, The Hangover Part II, takes a very similar plot to the first, but relocates the action from Las Vegas to Thailand. Unlike the first movie, it was critically panned, sitting at just 34% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes. However fans were much kinder to the movie, and it ended up making the most money of the trilogy with nearly $600 million at the box office. This movie is at #5 on Netflix's movie rankings.

The Hangover Part III is certainly not as beloved as its predecessors, and it's more like a crime thriller than a comedy caper, as the plot centers on a crime lord who kidnaps one of the friends to force the others to locate Ken Jeong's character. No hangovers here!

Neither fans nor critics cared much for The Hangover Part III, as it has 20% critic score and 44% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, however it did still make a decent $362 million at the box office. Netflix fans are still watching this movie, but less than its predecessors, as it sits at #9 on the streamer's rankings.

Despite fans' disappointment at the bizarre finale movie, The Hangover is considered a classic comedy movie by many. It was one of the biggest movies of its year, a big feat given that it was a new IP, and is credited with being the breakout for many stars.

The movies helped many members of the creative crew as well. Todd Phillips, who directed all three, went on to direct the Oscar-nominated hit Joker, while Craig Mazin, who wrote both sequels, became the showrunner for massive TV hits Chernobyl and The Last of Us.

While The Hangover and its sequels are frequently being added or removed from Netflix, they're easy watching (well, the first one is), and it's fun to re-watch them now and then to see how plenty of stars started. Maybe skip out on the third movie though.

Tom is the streaming and ecommerce writer at What to Watch, covering streaming services in the US and UK. His goal is to help you navigate the busy and confusing online video market, to help you find the TV, movies and sports that you're looking for without having to spend too much money."}), " -0-10/js/authorBio.js"); } else console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); Tom BedfordSocial Links NavigationStreaming and Ecommerce WriterTom is the streaming and ecommerce writer at What to Watch, covering streaming services in the US and UK. His goal is to help you navigate the busy and confusing online video market, to help you find the TV, movies and sports that you're looking for without having to spend too much money.

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