The Hangover Part II
Every once in a while, the most partygoing bro will say "this is making me uncomfortable" about clubbing, hazen-like acts, and sex. The Hangover Part II is that point. The film follows the Wolfpack — Phil, Stu, Alan, and Doug — as they travel to Thailand for Stu's wedding. After a really bad hangover, Phil, Stu, and Alan lose Stu's soon-to-be brother-in-law, Teddy, in Bangkok. The three Wolfpack members must find Teddy before the wedding begins, getting into some brutally violent and filthy sexual times.
This movie isn't trying to impart profound wisdom or present an existential message. If anything, it insults existentialism through its treatment of the character Alan. Alan is a character who is seen as insane. He states he has ADHD meds, so the film states his behavior is caused by mental health problems. But his behavior is lampoonish, and the movie doesn't elaborate on his mental health problems; it just wants to treat his behavior as comedy. Before arriving in Bangkok, Phil, Stu, and Doug enter Alan's "wealthy kid" room: a 40-year-old man's room covered in wrestling posters, wrestling figurines, and all other kinds of preteen boy trinkets. From the outside, it's supposed to be funny that a 40-year-old man lives with his parents and likes preteen boy things. However, it just feels sad for and displeased with Alan. Before Phil, Stu, and Doug entered the room, Alan's sister and Doug's wife, Tracy, asked Doug to talk with Stu about letting Alan come to the wedding in Thailand. Stu, furious with Alan's behavior in the original film, doesn't want him at the wedding, but a tenacious Doug eventually gets him to talk to Alan. Back in the room, Alan's "insane" and preteen antics continue- his mom serves him lunch like a maid, he injects immunizations by himself, and he treats his parents like a spoiled brat.
Later in Bangkok, Alan confesses that he brought intoxicated marshmallows, which blacked out the wolfpack. Phil and Stu heatedly ask Alan why, and he tells them it's because he wanted the group to enjoy the weekend and have things stay the same. The film plays this as a joke, with Alan crying and Stu punching him, but in a way that portrays it as funny. The picture has many jokes that bully Alan. It thinks it's comical when Alan wears a woman's coat, mispronounces Louis Vuitton and Thailand as "Thighland," lists random fun facts about the country, and then shares an anecdote about Stu. While the toast has a speck of hilarity, underneath the joke, it's just part of the film's mean streak. The film briefly gives realistic mental health reasons for Alan's behavior, but it just targets the behavior as a source of comedy. It shows that Alan feels sad, and his behavior is to connect with the wolfpack, whom he sees as his best friends. Thou feels sorry for Alan, not because he has mental health problems, but because he's alone. Yes, the film isn't confused on how it depicts Alan, being "it's funny he's insane" with "his mental health problems are just an explanation for it". There's just something about Alan that reflects a deep sadness about just being a person; but this existential idea is mocked beyond all recognition to where the film itself mocks existence.
It's a nasty, mean-spirited movie; obnoxiously showing undue frontal male nudity, describing discomforting and repulsive sexual situations, and other unseemly circumstances. These scenes aren't comedic, as they're so grizzly they make you want to look away from the screen as they happen. The film thinks it's genuinely funny, having such a vile sense of humor, with cruelness that doesn't serve a meaningful purpose. The ruanchiness isn't unfunny because it's ruanchy, it's unfunny because of its grotesqueness.
Not all of this movie is just a disgusting eye-sore; there are a fair number of hilarious moments. And some of these moments are a bit mean and portray Alan senselessly, like when he has a chattering teeth toy that sneers at Stu's long-gone tooth, when he has a monkey bite on a water bottle, or when he has raunchy pictures from the wolfpack's last adventure.
While it rolls smoothly and isn't a struggle to finish, The Hangover Part II tries to be funny in a way that it's just a bully. As a comedy, it has to mock things, but its morality is vile to the point that its mocking goes beyond what it can take in. The movie isn't brutal to the point where any sane person wouldn't want to see it, but it just disregards the idea that people have feelings. It's not a massacre, but its bullying is the biggest aspect it speaks for.
