Follow Eppler's reviews and entertainment updates on Twitter. Hollywood isn't in the business of leaving well enough alone. So when "The Hangover" was a sleeper hit two summers ago, a sequel was quickly announced.
The story contained in the original movie was quirky and different enough to be considered somewhat original - something of a Sherlock Holmes mystery for degenerates.
While I don't make it a habit of judging a movie sight unseen, I will say the trailers for "The Hangover Part II" have a few signs that leave me uneasy. They're just little things that tip you off to a bad sequel:
1. "Again?" Any time a character says something to the effect of "I can't believe this is happening
again!" you know you're in for a rehash. The only time that line has ever worked for me was when John McClane said "How can the same thing happen to the same guy twice?" in "Die Hard 2." It had a ridiculous sense of bitter irony to it.
The movie still kinda sucked, though, right?
2. Recurring minor characters From the premise of the first movie, there's not much reason characters like Mr. Wong (Ken Jeong) and Mike Tyson should be involved in these guys' adventures in Bangkok. I'm sure there's an explanation. But sometimes, smaller characters are best in small doses and don't need to return to mine for more laughs. And sometimes, they were terrible in the first place and should have been put to death in the first film (Jar-Jar Binks, anyone?).
3. New Sidekicks Adding a wacky supporting player for a sequel hardly ever works - a key exception being Joe Pesci in "Lethal Weapon 2." It's even worse when the disposal sidekick is merely needy and annoying. In the trailers for "The Hangover Part II" we see the guys will be palling around with a kid named Teddy in Bangkok - the kid brother of Ed Helms' fiancee. Will this be another Short-Round? Because that did not go well the first time.
Again - I could be way off on this. "The Hangover Part II" could certainly exceed expectations and best the original. It's happened before.
But in the wake of the hilarious "Bridesmaids," a retread sequel could pale in comparison.
