When Todd Phillips’ boys-behaving-badly raunch-fest The Hangover (2009) proved a surprise smash, it was perhaps inevitable that Warner Bros. would rush to provide audiences with a second dose of morning-after mischief. There was just one problem: Didn’t the original’s premise—three dudes awake in Vegas with no memory of the previous night’s bachelor party, and no inkling as to the whereabouts of the groom—really only lend itself to a single movie? Would viewers really buy that these same three friends would again black out, again come to with no recollection of the night before, and again spend an entire day looking for someone they lost along the way? Insultingly redundant, 2011’s The Hangover Part II essentially Xeroxes the narrative of its predecessor, retracing its steps with only the most cosmetic of changes. (The shenanigans happen in Bangkok instead of Las Vegas, there’s a monkey instead of a baby, etc.) The implausibly identical plot didn’t prevent The Hangover Part II from pulling in monster grosses, but it did tarnish the critical reputation of the franchise—so much so that Phillips went out of his way to break from template with the new (and supposedly conclusive) The Hangover Part III.
