THE HANGOVER PART II.

So, before the movie even came out, people were complaining that it looked exactly like the first film. Then the movie came out, and people were complaining that it was exactly like the first film. As I've seen the film, I can tell you--it's literally a carbon copy of the first film. But that's not a complaint.

It's 2 years later, and Stu (Ed Helms) is getting married to Lauren (Jamie Chung) in Thailand. Along for the wedding are friends Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Doug (Justin Bartha). Also, they reluctantly invite Alan (Zach Galifianakis). Come wedding weekend, Phil, Stu, and Alan wake up in Bangkok, and Lauren's little brother Teddy (Mason Lee) has gone missing. They have no idea what happened. Their only clues are Alan's shaved head, Stu's tattooed face, a monkey, Teddy's cut-off finger, and a naked Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong). Just as before, they must figure out where their missing person is, try to remember what happened to them, battle some gangsters, and get to the wedding before it's too late.

You've heard it all before, as I've said: This movie is a carbon copy of the first film. It's the same full outline and same exact jokes, just a different setting. But did that bother me? Not really. It almost became a game trying to figure out how they were going to emulate something from the first film (this might make me sound like an idiot, but that being said, I still couldn't figure out what happened to Teddy until the reveal). The main difference, though? This film felt much darker than the first. The first was much more lighthearted; even the gangster stuff never felt threatening, but silly (in a good way). The sequel, however, ups the stakes and makes you feel there's some real danger. It's actually uncomfortable how seriously the movie is taking itself at times (though it's not the whole time, thankfully).

But because of these similarities, I have nothing to review. The only new thing I can talk about is Teddy. His acting is iffy, and the movie missed a huge opportunity to have any kind of character development with him. Otherwise, I'll just leave it at this: if you liked the first one, there's no way you can dislike this one... unless the carbon copy/been-there-done-that feel of it bothers or annoys you. If you can get over that, you'll enjoy it. If you hated the first one, you probably weren't gonna see this one anyway. I saw it. I laughed. It was a good time. Could it have been better? Sure. But I went in knowing (mostly) what to expect, and that's what I got.


I Am McLovin!

Michael Bay, You Hurt My Head...

It was just announced that Ken Jeong is going to be in Transformers 3. I mean... Transformers 2 was pretty bad, and Transformers 3 can only make Bay wanna take it up even more notches in the Boom Boom Pow (/peas)... but Ken Jeong is hilarious and awesome.

Now I'm so conflicted. How dare you do this to me, Michael Bay. How dare you.

THE HANGOVER.

The plot to this movie is simple. It's basically a more adult version of Dude, Where's My Car? And without the aliens. In fact, they could have retitled it Dude, Where's My Friend? (Or even Dude, Where's My Doug). Doug (Justin Bartha) is getting married in two days. But his friends Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Stu (Ed Helms), along with his soon-to-be brother-in-law Alan (Zach Galifianakis), take him for the ultimate bachelor party in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, they wake up the next morning not remembering a thing. All they know is that Doug is missing, the place is a wreck, Stu's missing a tooth, a baby's in the closet, and a tiger's in the bathroom. So now they must try to find Doug, taking them through a night of events they don't remember, and crossing paths with a hooker, Jade (Heather Graham); Mike Tyson; a couple cops (Rob Riggle and Cleo King); and Chinese gangsters led by Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong). And they need to find Doug and get home--alive, if at all possible--before the wedding.

However, don't get caught up on the similarities. It's not a rip-off. The adventure is different, and much more adult-oriented. And the movie is honestly funny. Now, I've been reading things saying that this is the funniest movie in the history of man. I disagree there. I did laugh out loud on numerous occassions, though when I wasn't, I was at least smiling the entire time. The rest of the theater was laughing pretty much non-stop, though. Don't take this as I didn't enjoy the film. I enjoyed it immensely. Just because I don't laugh non-stop doesn't mean I don't think it's fun or funny (It's difficult for movies to make me laugh a ton).

I must say that Ken Jeong is still in form, though I would have preferred not to see him fully naked. His roles are always some of my favorites. But the best jokes of the film came from Zach Galifianakis. In fact, I think all the times I laughed out loud were at jokes centered on his character. And certainly the only times I laughed in the first act (before the memory loss starts) were at his character. The movie does have a bit of a slow start, I felt.

However, it's only slow in jokes. The movie has to set up its characters, which I feel it does well. Like many good comedies these days, the makers make sure that the characters are real and relatable. Bradley Cooper's teacher persona might seem over-the-top, but I've actually known teachers who would tell a student not to bother them on the weekend and to get out before any of them ask any more questions. The characters weren't just silly. They were developed.

And even if the comedy doesn't work for you at times, the mystery will. I swear, I'm a sucker for a good mystery. I like trying to piece them together and figure it out before it's revealed. So I had a lot of fun trying to do just that, laughing or not. And I love how they eventually show what happened overnight. That was a brilliant way to end the movie.

If I were to give mention to any part of the movie that bugged me, I really couldn't without spoiling, as it's at a crucial part of the film. Let's just say it's the gambling scene. The movie was obviously larger than life. However, this scene really seemed to push the limits of realism. I just had a hard time believing its possibilities. Was it still fun? Yes. But almost too far-fetched even in the realm of the film. But since it was still enjoyable, I didn't really care a whole lot.

But for the most part, the movie was incredible fun and was really funny. It is one of the funnier movies to come out recently; I agree with that. I would definitely recommend it if you're a fan of comedies (believe it or not, there are people out there who don't care for them!) or just need a good laugh. It was well thought out and is good entertainment. Though as I said at the beginning, it is more on the adult side (heavy language, nudity, and crude humor), so beware bringing little kids (as I saw in my own theater). Otherwise, have fun.


A Keanu 'Whoa'

(P.S. Super hard to rate. Again, this is a very strong 'Whoa'. Like a 4.5 out of 5).

2 In 1: Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

So I saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall (a long time ago, actually… as this review has been sitting on the shelf for a while, so to speak), and I knew I’d have to put the review in with a 2 In 1, but couldn’t figure out the other movie to do it with. But then I finally decided to pair it up with another Judd Apatow film (and both including Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, and Jonah Hill... and possibly others), Knocked Up. And both films seem to be a little overrated. And, it seems that both are the best when the smaller characters are on screen, including Paul Rudd. So let me first start with the older of the two, which I’ve seen numerous times and have just gotten around to formally reviewing.

Knocked Up.

The best way to describe Knocked Up is to give a quote by Paul Rudd’s character within the movie: “Marriage is like that show Everybody Loves Raymond, but its not funny. All the problems are the same, but, you know instead of all the funny, pithy dialogue, everybody is really pissed off and tense.” And the movie is quite similar… sometimes it’s funny, but most of the time, it’s just a bunch of really pissed off people and tense moments.

Ben Stone (Seth Rogan) is a stoner loser. Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) is a successful TV reporter who just got a promotion. Going out to celebrate with her sister Debbie (Leslie Mann), Alison goes clubbing and has a drunken night of fun with Ben, resulting in sex, which leads to the inevitable pregnancy that the film revolves around. So the rest of the film showcases the relationship between the two, as well as juxtaposing the relationship between Debbie and her husband Pete (Paul Rudd).

Now, to go back to my opening, there’s a lot of situational comedy that presents itself, even in the concept (stoner loser gets successful woman pregnant, and both are forced to cooperate in order to be there for the baby). But what happens throughout the film is mostly uncomfortable, tense scenes full of fighting, pissed-off people.

But the best parts of the film are those with the supporting cast, or even the tiniest of cameos or roles: Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Joanna Kerns, Harold Ramis, Alan Tudyk, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Ryan Seacrest, James Franco, and Ken Jeong… among others. Seriously, my favorite part of the entire movie isn’t even in the movie. In the extended/deleted scenes, you can see the full, uncut version of Ken Jeong’s Dr. Kuni scene. That had me laughing so hard, much more than any of the rest of the movie did. The best part of the actual movie was Paul Rudd’s ‘chair’ scene in Las Vegas. And not even the whole scene itself including Seth Rogan’s ranting, but simply Paul Rudd’s tiniest movements or words (“It tastes like a rainbow!”). Hell, even Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann’s kids in the movie (which I believe are actually Leslie Mann and Judd Apatow’s kids) were entertaining.

As for the others, specifically Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogan, I just had difficulty caring… moreso with the former. It’s hard to care about a budding romance when you can’t stand one of the two. I mostly couldn’t stand Katherine Heigl for the majority of the movie and thought she was pretty much a bitch. The times when she didn’t get on my nerves and was actually likable were few and far between, such as when she’d sit on the couch looking for nudity in a movie for Ben’s website. Though I’m not saying Seth Rogan’s character was a saint, either, but at least he had personality outside of ‘stick-up-the-butt’.

So yeah, there were good moments, there were funny moments, but the majority just didn’t work for me. The movie is a romantic comedy. But when you can’t stand one or both of the pair in the romance, and the movie is more about being tense and fighting over being funny, it basically fails at its job. It does live up to the Judd Apatow degree, but I’m just not with everybody who says it’s his best work and much better than 40-Year-Old-Virgin and Superbad. It’s good, yeah… but it’s not great.

I Am McLovin!

Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

So I finally got around to seeing Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It was about what I thought it would be. Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) was just broken up with by long-time girlfriend and famous TV actress Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), the show for which he writes music. After some random advice given to him by his step-brother Brian (Bill Hader), Peter decides to go to Hawaii to try and forget about his ex instead of moping around and having meaningless flings. Though when he gets there, he discovers that Sarah is also there, along with her new boyfriend, British rock superstar Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). Fortunately, a nice employee by the name of Rachel (Mila Kunis) tries to cheer him up, though Peter starts to get closer to her than he first expected.

The movie had a lot of funny moments, most of which were thanks to some of the smaller, more underused roles. Paul Rudd and Jonah Hill’s underused characters were great, more specifically Rudd’s (Hill’s whole subplot was nearly pointless). And then there was the newlywed couple with sexual difficulties who were pretty funny (“Christ is between your legs!” had to be the funniest line in the film). But for me, the guy who stole almost every scene he was in was Russell Brand as Aldous Snow. Everything he said was just plain funny, mostly because of how he said it in his very nonchalant kind of way.

But the movie did have quite a few dragging moments. It could have been trimmed down quite a bit. The beginning of the movie, before he gets to Hawaii, seems like it takes forever to get through. I wanted to get to the story already, but there were more and more scenes of him just moping around and crying. Then he finally gets to the island and does more moping around and crying. I know the movie was called Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and the point was him trying to get over her, but I think we got the point after the 30^th fetal-position crying scene. And, though I think he’s a fun actor, Jonah Hill’s whole part in the movie could have been trimmed down a bit, too. The only reason I think he might not have been was due to him, for whatever reason, being in just about every plot-important scene in the movie. I mean, I don’t know if it’s some unspoken rule that every Judd Apatow-linked film has to be at least two hours long, but they should really work on that a bit.

I really don’t have much else to say about the film. When it wasn’t dragging or unnecessary, I thought it was funny and entertaining (which it was, more often than not). I’d totally watch it again.

A Keanu 'Whoa'

ROLE MODELS.

I believe I’ve said this in a prior comedy review, but you know those times when you go and see a movie in theater and find it hilarious, but then you buy it and watch it at home, and it’s not even remotely as funny as you remember? And then you realize that the only reason you were laughing the first time was because of the crowd experience (i.e. THEY were laughing, so you were laughing, too). But all alone, you don’t laugh nearly as much. Well, that happens to me quite often. And I have to say that this movie… is not one of those movies. I laughed so much during this film, the majority of which was on my own accord (and a lot of which I know why, so I can get into that later in the review).

Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott) are two guys who just float through life selling a disgusting energy drink to high school kids as part of a drug-free program. But after a really bad day that escalates to Danny getting broken up with by his long-term girlfriend Beth (Elizabeth Banks) and climaxes with a police assault and sexual innuendo-related car wreck, both Danny and Wheeler are given community service so that they can stay out of jail. The program, led by ex-druggie Gayle Sweeny (Jane Lynch), pairs adults (“Bigs”) with kids (“Littles”) in a buddy program. But the pairs made here, while at first seem terrible, turn out to be perfect. The negative Danny is teamed up with Amptgard-loving Augie Farks (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), while the ladies man Wheeler is teamed up with foul-mouthed Ronnie (Bobb’e J. Thompson). So now all they have to do is survive together long enough to get through the service hours… but wouldn’t you know it, relationships form.

I won’t deny it: the plot is formulaic. You know pretty much how everything is going to turn out early on. But that didn’t stop me from loving it. Sure, it started out a little slow, and the best joke prior to meeting the kids is shown in the trailer (“Congratulations, you’re stupid in three languages”), but once it gets to the gimmick, it really doesn’t pull back.

Unfortunately, Seann William Scott didn’t get to use his full arsenal in this movie and was really just a tag-along to the plot (hell, technically, he really didn’t do anything to get in trouble in the first place). The majority of the plot rested on Paul Rudd and Mintz-Plasse, which was fine, because that was the most interesting relationship in the movie anyway. Though that doesn’t mean Scott and Thompson weren’t good. In fact, Thompson had most of the funny one-liners of the film. But what I found funniest were the nerd jokes, mostly because I knew everything they were talking about. (Time to show true colors): back in high school, I actually knew people who played Amptgard and even played with them a couple times. It really is a ton of fun, though we never got as into character as they do in the movie. But anyway, the point is, I understood all the jokes on a more personal level.

But then there are the supporting cast members, such as Jane Lynch, Ken Jeong, Joe Lo Truglio, and Matt Walsh. To start with the negative, I found Jane Lynch to be one of the biggest downfalls of the film. She was funny the first couple times, but after that, it started to get old. It was the same jokes over and over again, and it started to get more tiring than funny. But then you have the likes of Ken Jeong, who you might recognize as the delivery doctor from Knocked Up (and he’s a real doctor, too, I believe), whose outtakes on the DVD were almost ten-times funnier than the movie itself. And he’s not wasted in this film, either, as the King (the ultimate villain in the Mintz-Plasse part of the story). Between his facial expressions and his slight hints of homosexuality, he was hilarious. And I pray that he has more outtakes on the Role Models DVD, too. And then, of course, you have the Amptgard loyalists, Joe Lo Truglio and Matt Walsh, whose dedication to the sport makes them great (especially Truglio).

Overall, I really loved the film. I know this review focused more on Rudd/Mintz-Plasse, but I honestly felt they were the best part. Scott and Thompson did have equal screen time, and they did have hilarious scenes (just so I can get that out there), but the plot was seemingly more dedicated to the former than the latter—again, at least in my opinion. I would really recommend this film, whether or not it’s predictable. Let me put it this way: I probably only once stopped to think about reviewing the movie while I was watching it (which is very rare these days) because I was so taken in by it. It’s one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a while.

A Keanu 'Whoa'