Oh, how I hate to be writing this. Movie, I was so looking forward to having a good time with you. Enjoyable laughs of the same-old, same-old, with a few elements changed up. How could you have gone so wrong?
I'll have you know, I really liked the first movie; The Hangover was a great example of how a movie from a genre that has certain (low) expectations, if well-made enough, could attract audiences outside its usual demographic. Its premise, structure, and writing were original, funny, and clever. The characters were surprisingly empathetic, and the acting better than a film like The Hangover would warrant.
That point being made, I am not criticizing the fact this movie is essentially a remake. In fact, it was what I was looking forward to. I wanted to relive the laughs of the first. I suppose part of the reason I look back on the first with fondness is because it subverted my expectations by exceeding them; regardless of its quality, then, The Hangover 2 was probably doomed anyway by anticipatory hype.
At the worst, I hoped it would simply be a forgettable mediocre borefest. What I didn't expect was to walk out of the cinema so angry at the movie. It's not even boringly, enjoyably, forgettably bad. This movie was actively bad, as if deliberately assaulting one's senses and sensibilities, leaving a lingering bad taste in the mouth.
I felt ashamed for the actors. I was incredulous that they were willing to even, after reading through the script, participate. Oh, Bradley Cooper, how could you do this to me? I felt ashamed Thailand even let this movie be filmed there; did not some Thai person read the script? Did not even one person object?
But I'm getting ahead of myself. I have to say, as a Thai person - even after all these years of Westernization, and taking Asian stereotypes in good stride (I love Mr. Chow - he's the one saving grace of the movie!) - I found this movie in offensively bad taste. It just got to a point in the movie I was laughing because I could not believe what I was watching. Calling monks a bunch of 'bald assholes'? I know the lack of classiness is the charm, but there is a difference between crude and just offensive.
I despair of the lack of furore and debate this movie has whipped up; is Bangkok so universally perceived this way? If the movie were to portray some other country or city so negatively, would that somehow be worse?
On the plus side, if all the tweets of people swearing after watching The Hangover 2 to never visit Bangkok are anything to go by, the movie may have actually done the city a favour. For, if those people are stupid enough to believe this movie, with the premise it has, accurately portrays the city, then we'd probably benefit from their absence anyway.
Some jokes weren't even so much infuriating as much as exasperating. Asian women's boob sizes? Ladyboys? Eyeroll, yawn, been there, heard that. Todd Phillips, I expected better. Oh, movie, one thing I really hoped I wouldn't have to put up with you was cliched, tired, stereotypes, but you had them all the same.
Wow, I really did not mean for this to turn into such a self-righteous 'ASIAN PRIDE!!' rant. So, I'll also list other reasons this movie disappointed me:
Essentially, this movie took everything that worked in the first movie and exaggerated it to the point of cringe-worthy absurdity. A good example is the characterization of all the characters: taking the one defining point from their first movie and bombarding us with it. For example, Alan (Zach Galifianakis) is now unlikeably annoying, with no redeeming traits, whereas those same traits were formerly amusing.
Another complaint is the bizarrely dark tone the second movie adopts. The first one was light-hearted and fun, even amid all the debauchery. The Hangover 2 takes itself too seriously in deciding to incorporate a drug-underworld plot. Thus, coupled with the cliched Thai stereotypes, many of the jokes of The Hangover 2 both fall flat and feel mean-spirited.
I think part of the reason I resent this movie so much is that, in changing the setting, race tropes are inevitably going to come into play, whether intentionally or not. The Hangover 2 comes across as nothing more than privileged American white guys doing whatever the hell they want in a country they obviously think of as inferior.
I'd also complain about the contrived, deus-ex-machina-esque of an ending, but I've made my point. Just rewatch the first one instead.
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