‘The Hangover Part II’

Director: Todd Phillips

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis

3.5/5 popcorns

The second ‘Hangover’ film is essentially the same as the first. From the very first shot of a frazzled but still enviably cool Bradley Cooper on his cell phone, relaying the bad news to his pal’s wife, the film’s self-consciousness is obvious and reveals director Todd Phillips’ intention to not stray too far from the original formula. Whether Phillips forfeited devising a new storyline, or proudly planned to simply remake the first – we’ll never know.

The story might not have changed, but the mood is startlingly different. Whereas ‘The Hangover’ possessed a potent Vegas-worn buzz, ‘The Hangover: Part II’ is downright mean, a more hostile depiction of depravity in sunny, ashy Bangkok.

Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) resolve to enjoy just one celebratory beer the night before Stu’s marriage to the beautiful Lauren (Jamie Chung). Naturally, the notorious ‘wolfpack’ awakens in a moldy, discolored Bangkok hotel room with no recollection of the night before. After gaining their bearings, they realize they’ve lost Teddy (Mason Lee), Lauren’s brother and a prodigy studying at Stanford University.

When asked in the first scene how the wolfpack’s woes compared to their Vegas exploits, Phil bluntly replies, ‘Worse,’ and he isn’t exaggerating.

Bangkok is hell compared to Vegas, and Phillips revels in its potential to break Phil, Stu and Alan into tiny pieces. The violence is more extreme and confrontational, unlike the playful comic fighting in the first film, and the antagonist, a sleazy gangster played by Paul Giamatti, is more aggressive. Even the sexual content is more disturbing, incorporating transsexual prostitutes and shocking nudity, and the angst is just as palpable. Phillips intensifies the suffering by not just emphasizing drunken carelessness but also the tendency for the seemingly docile male to automatically channel his primal self when his instincts are provoked. 

Two years ago, Zack Galifianakis became America’s most beloved comedic actor for his performance in ‘The Hangover,’ if only for its theatrical run, and he’s just as good in the sequel, anchoring a terrific cast.

However, Phillips’ work is not entirely satisfying, even with the stellar performances and ensuing hilarity. The idea of focusing on recovering events from a lost night, with the past haunting the future, is a brilliant comedic plot device that still has potential. Phillips took the easy way out, and even if he the film is occasionally spectacular, he did not deliver the sequel the first film deserved.

‘Midnight in Paris’

Director: Woody Allen

Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Michael Sheen

4/5 popcorns

Adrien Brody won 2002’s Academy Award for best actor for his role ‘The Pianist,’ though he likely peaked as a performer in his only scene as Salvador Dali in Woody Allen’s wonderful new comedy, ‘Midnight in Paris.’ Unsurprisingly, 14 different actors have garnered an Academy Award nomination for a Woody Allen film, and while Brody won’t be attending the Oscars for his performance in ‘Midnight in Paris,’ it might be the best three minutes you’ll see all year.

Allen is renowned for drawing superb performances from great actors in small roles and unusual actors in odd roles, and ‘Midnight in Paris’ serves as a great reminder of this skill. Brody is just one of the jewels of Allen’s most enjoyable comedy in more than a decade. This most unusual comedy offers the type of playful fantasy we’re used to seeing exclusively from much younger filmmakers.

Gil (a terrific Owen Wilson), a successful Hollywood screenwriter who despises his profession, wishes to stay in Paris after the end of his vacation to write novels in the cafes frequented by James Joyce and other literary titans. His more unsentimental fiancé Inez (Rachel McAdams) writes off Gil’s romanticism as a mere product of excitement.

Gil’s infatuation turns to obsession when he discovers that at midnight, by the steps on a narrow back road, a car will pick him up and transport him to Paris in the ‘20s. One night he’s hanging out with Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll), F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston) and Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates), and the next he meets Pablo Picasso (Marcial Di Fonzo Bo) and his beautiful mistress, Adriana (Marion Cotillard), who Gil immediately falls for. But is she better than what he has in the present? His conflicting feelings deepen when he suspects that Inez might be having an affair with a pretentious family friend, Paul (Michael Sheen), and thinks they might not be right for one another.

Though it lacks a meaty plot and meaningful substance, Allen’s latest effort overflows with wit and outstanding performances that can only be cultivated by a true master. From Stoll’s shockingly great impression of Hemingway to Brody’s near-perfect embodiment of Dali, the performances are uniformly terrific. Despite his less flamboyant role, Wilson is great as a new incarnation of the neurotic Woody Allen leading man.

Genuinely charming, ‘Midnight in Paris’ is the type of film Allen makes when he’s tired, briefly, of the darkness that permeates most of his work. And for the first time in years, he has aced the execution of this simpler design.

smlittma@syr.edu

Published on June 4, 2011 at 12:00 pm