THE HANGOVER PART IIRating: R for pervasive language, strong sexual content including graphic nudity, drug use and brief violent images.Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes.
Doubling down on the formula that made “The Hangover” the most successful R-rated comedy ever, “The Hangover Part II” leaves no avenue unexplored in its relentless quest to assault sensibilities, breach taboos and send the stomach contents of every spectator heaving in a communal geyser.
The premise is pure deja vu. On the day following a bachelor party for Stu (Ed Helms), he awakes alongside Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) in a decimated hotel room. The men have pounding heads, physical disfigurements of mysterious origin, amnesia about what went on the night before and no clue where the fourth member of their party has disappeared.
This time what happened in Vegas happens in Thailand and the AWOL friend – Stu’s teenage brother-in-law to be – isn’t entirely gone. He left behind his college ring, with his finger still in it. Paraphrasing the line immortalized by Catherine O’Hara in “Home Alone 2,” Phil moans, “It happened again!”
And how. 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.