The Hangover Part II 2011

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: One of the most uninspired and unoriginal sequels you'll ever see. Or not see, if you're lucky. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: The lads in the "Hangover" "wolfpack" seem a tad winded, this time around. From concept to execution, "Hangover Part II" has a "been there, done that, jailed for it" feel. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Now that we know them, the core characters are all the funnier; they've become an American suburban version of the Three Stooges. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Phillips seems to be relying all too heavily on the idea that we just want to see the first movie again. (We can do that. At home. For a lot less money.) Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: ...[it] sacrifices plausibility, believability and empathy with anything that doesn't validate its lead characters' 'Wolf Pack' mentality in the service of a smirkingly cynical attitude. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: If you superimposed a diagram that mapped out all the narrative beats, characters and jokes in "The Hangover Part II" over one for "The Hangover," the two would align almost perfectly. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: The unexpectedly wonderful thing about this sequel is that it actually improves on the jokes. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: I can't believe how precisely everything does happen again, except that what was fresh and surprising in Las Vegas turns rancid and predictable in Bangkok, where yet another wedding is scheduled to take place. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: The filmmakers can't recapture the original's novelty or freshness, so they up the raunch level considerably; the matter-of-factness of the transsexual and gay-panic jokes is almost progressive. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: This isn't even really a sequel to the hilarious 2009 comedy smash set in Las Vegas. It's virtually the same movie, just transferred to another continent and with the raunch wildly amped up. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Giving the people what they want is one thing. Making nearly the exact same movie a second time, but shifting the setting to Thailand, is just ... what, lazy? Arrogant? Maybe a combination of the two. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The movie's an unclean thing and a mostly unfunny one. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: It's still fun to watch, but the first one was better. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: I need jokes. Something more than a situation recycling the situation in the first one. I'd like filmmakers who, worldwide grosses aside, show more of an interest in filming visual comedy -- gross-out, violent, action-based, whatever -- with some finesse. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: Despite all the similarities, despite the same madcap plotting and hysterically unhinged comic filth, The Hangover Part II veers into much darker territory. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: I can't dismiss the ugliness behind many of its antics. Read more

Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: It's a tribute to the filmmakers, particularly director and co-writer Todd Phillips, that the best way to approach The Hangover Part II is to talk about what it isn't. It isn't a typical sequel, either a watered-down encore or a muddled [extension]. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Maybe what goes on in Vegas really should stay in Vegas. Read more

Eric D. Snider, Film.com: If you want to avoid plot spoilers for The Hangover Part II, don't watch The Hangover. Read more

Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter: What happens in Bangkok isn't as much fun as when it happened in Vegas, but it's still worth the trip. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Oh, what a headache-inducing, unapologetic money grab we have in "The Hangover Part II." Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: A severe bout of sequelitis afflicts this eagerly awaited but only sporadically amusing follow-up, which changes the locale from Las Vegas to Bangkok, but keeps the formula intact. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: The Hangover Part II isn't a dud, exactly -- some of it is very funny, and there are a few memorable jolts and outlandish dirty moments. But it feels, at times, like a routine adventure film set overseas. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It feels a little bit like that fourth dirty martini - not a good idea at the time, and probably to be regretted later. Read more

Ian Buckwalter, NPR: The result is a cinematic illustration of the law of diminishing returns, in which more money, more exotic locales, more crazy situations and more Mike Tyson all fuel a familiar carnival of abasement. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: It would be nice if Phillips could find something original to say when we all get together to tear the next town apart. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: I have the sad duty to report I found this more elaborate, play-it-safe sequel far less fresh or funny. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: While these characters were amusing the first time around, Phillips and his screenwriters don't bring much new to the party. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Using the original as a template, The Hangover Part II colors within the lines, but does so with bright fluorescents rather than drab primaries. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: 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. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Somebody must have roofied me. I left The Hangover Part II feeling dazed and abused, wondering how bad things happened to such a good comedy. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Phillips and his co-writers, Craig Mazin and Scot Armstrong, seem to have launched into this project with a misguided faith in their own brilliance, but nothing resembling an idea or a story. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Alas, this time there are about three or four mild laughs in the whole picture, and the entire visual aspect of the movie is a botched disappointment. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Directed, like the wildly successful first film, by Todd Phillips, it airlifts the original characters, premise, and story structure out of Vegas and plonks them down in Bangkok in near-identical form, save for a few instances of ante-upping. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Repeating the structure of the first film beat for beat, writer/director Todd Phillips keeps things fresh by going sleazier and more depraved, a litany of pain and suffering played for laughs. It's one part comedy to four parts juvenile delinquency. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Wastrels think the formula for a hangover is the hair of the dog, but this flaccid follow-up to the hit comedy expects us to swallow the entire rotting carcass. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: The missing person, the seamy urban setting, the gradual accretion of clues: The Hangover films are, essentially, hard-boiled crime stories spun into comic depravity. Read more

Gayle MacDonald, Globe and Mail: The Hangover made the actors A-list Hollywood stars. But despite the indisputable talent of this cast, The Hangover Part II doesn't deliver the same zany punch of its predecessor. Read more

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: Most of the laughs go down easily. Most. Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: Your head hurts like hell, the whole thing feels horribly familiar, and it's just not funny any more. Can this really be happening again? Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Part II is everything the first movie was, and less. It's crucially missing laughs and intelligence. Read more

Scott Bowles, USA Today: For all the talent Hangover II reassembles, our boys just can't muster the hair of the dog that bit them the first time around. Read more

Andrew Barker, Variety: The stock dismissal "more of the same" has rarely been more accurately applied to a sequel than to The Hangover Part II, which ranks as little more than a faded copy of its predecessor superimposed on a more brightly colored background. Read more

Eric Hynes, Village Voice: Trade out Las Vegas for Bangkok, a tiger for a monkey, a lactating hooker for a trannie stripper, a missing tooth for a face tattoo, and you've got Todd Phillips's rote, dispiriting replica of his own surprise smash hit. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: A veritable textbook case of what not to do when re-making a comedy that depended on sheer surprise for most of its appeal. Read more