Review of THE HANGOVER PART II

I know it's one of the most anticipated comedies of the summer, but I just wasn't that big a fan of the first one. I didn't hate it. I even laughed quite a few times. I just thought it was overrated. For me, it took forever to get moving, didn't find much humor in Zach Galifianakis' performance, and I wanted to punch Ken Jeong in the face!

Now, two years later, we're back with this carbon copy sequel. This time Stu (Ed Helms) is getting married to.... ah it really doesn't matter cause the movie doesn't seem to care who she is. The important thing is that he's going to marry someone, cause if he wasn't, there wouldn't be a plot. Anyway, Stu, along with Phil (Bradley Cooper), Alan (Galifianakis), and Doug (Justin Bartha, who is just as unimportant as he was in the first one) travel to Thailand, which is where the wedding is going to be. Stu is pretty vocal about not wanting a bachelor party, so instead the guys (along with Stu's teenage future brother-in-law) end up just having a quiet night on the beach, drinking a few beers by a fire.

All of a sudden... BAM! Phil wakes up hungover and finds everyone in a trashed hotel in Bangkok. Alan's head is now shaved and Stu has a Mike Tyson tattoo on his face. Whoops! Looks like someone drugged them again. And to make matters worse, Stu's future brother-in-law is missing. For the rest of the film, just like the first one, the wolf pack search for him, following every clue and lead they can. This leads the film on it's episodic journey into crude, lewd and rude humor. Also in the mix is Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) returning and causing more trouble for our heroes. We also have a drug dealing monkey, transvestites, and a mob boss played by Paul Giamatti.

I don't have a problem if a movie is going to copy the first film almost exactly, but at least it should still be inspired and funny. This is not! Even more so than recent big budget sequels, THE HANGOVER PART II exists for merely one reason, because the first one made money, not because everyone involved wanted to revisit the characters. There is a lazy, going-through-the-motions feel throughout the whole thing. Sure, there are wild and over the top raunchy jokes, which is fine, but they feel so forced. It's like the filmmakers said, "Okay, we're going to put a big penis in your face. Now laugh!" I need inspiration in a joke as well.

The performances are not very good. Ed Helms probably does the best job, but even he goes overboard at times. Remember when the second Ace Ventura came out and Jim Carrey was trying to recapture his same fresh performance but instead it just showed that he was trying too hard? Same thing here. Everything is just so forced. Not natural at all. Bradley Cooper still reacts to situations humorously, but when he's in a normal conversation, he's just not convincing (it's like MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN all over again). Galifianakis is doing the same thing again, though a little more low key. I just don't find him funny in general. Justin Bartha is completely wasted as the "other friend" again. Since he wasn't missing this time, why couldn't the writers bring him along on the adventure? Ken Jeong is just horrendous as Mr. Chow. He's loud, obnoxious and NOT funny. I think he feels like if an Asian talks really silly and says things black people normally would say, that equals funny. It doesn't. I really hate him! Acclaimed actor Paul Giamatti is really slumming it here as a character who, in the end, really has no significance at all.

The humor is more of the same, just grosser and dirtier, not funnier. The repetition of this movie got old real fast for me. Not since DIE HARD 2:DIE HARDER, did a character say in a movie "I can't believe this is happening again!!!", alot. I did manage to laugh twice. Once during the movie, and twice during the pictures at the end (Yes, they do that again too). The cinematography looks nice, but that's all i can really say about the direction. It's just boring. And what's worse, I didn't really care about anyone this time. In fact, I thought they were all douchebags. At least in the original the three leads had natural chemistry together. Here they don't. It's all forced. Well, at least they all got hefty paydays out of it.

I must mention though, that just because I hated it doesn't mean you won't. I saw this at a pretty packed press screening and everyone seemed to love it. As I was leaving, I heard over a dozen people say that it was better than the first. So, maybe if you were a "die hard" of the original, you might love it. If you didn't really like the first one, like me, it's going to be very painful. I think the first one is like GONE WITH THE WIND compared to this tired old turd.

*1/2 (out of ****)

Review of Eat Pray Love

I'm not much of a reader. I watch too many movies to read books. When I do read a book, it's usually non-fiction and about a director. In fact, it wasn't until a few days before I saw this movie that I found out it was a very famous book. I still didn't want to know what it was about or really cared too. I didn't see any trailers or read a synopsis. A friend of mine told me it was about a middle-aged woman soul searching in different countries. Whatever...

Julia Roberts plays Liz. She is unhappily married to (an appropriately wooden) Billy Crudup (can't say I blame her) and has no meaning in her life. She ends her marriage and shacks up with a younger hunk played by James Franco. It's fine for awhile, but then she ends up feeling the same way she did when she was married. So, in order to find true happiness, she decides to leave her life behind and travel to Italy, India and Bali.

After the prologue, the film is divided into three sections. That's right! Eat, Pray, and Love. In Italy, she learns to let go and eat. Eating ends up being a substitute for passion, but she learns to be comfortable with herself (like purchasing bigger pants). In India, she learns how to pray and to be mindful. She also befriends a crude older man from Texas (Richard Jenkins) who mentors her on meditation. And Bali is the love section. She meets exotic handsome brute, Javier Bardem, and the two begin a love affair. Liz seems to have mastered Eat and Pray, but is she ready to really love someone?

I'm sure most guys will shutter at the very idea of this movie. Me? Chick flicks don't faze me, so I wasn't dreading it. Actually, I think the movie is more relatable to men than most would care to admit. I know plenty of guys who are unhappy with their life, or have settled in a decent paying job just to pay the bills, but aren't doing what they really want to do. That's what this movie is about. It's about letting go of everything that's mediocre in your life and just live it to the fullest. It's about finding yourself. Something that is relatable to anyone, I think. So yeah, I got into the story quite a bit.

It does take a while to get going and I had kind of a tough time taking James Franco's brooding seriously in the first 15 minutes, but once Liz finally embarks on her journey, the story really begins to take shape. Italy is absolutely gorgeous and Cinematographer Robert Richardson (KILL BILL, JFK) captures every corner of the country in beautiful detail. I really want to go there. For some reason, I liked the EAT part the best. We really get to see Liz become her own person for the first time, while she meets friends and eats in various restaurants. The pray section is good, but goes on perhaps for a bit too long. Jenkins' character borderlines on the corny as he speaks in cliched catchphrases, but his acting is affectionate and subtle enough for it to work. I probably would have cut a couple of the scenes involving a girl that Liz meets while scrubbing the floors of a monastery (or whatever it was they were in).

The last section is tricky, but I think the filmmakers pulled it off for the most part. Javier Bardem is sexy and extremely likable. The chemistry between his character and Liz is definitely there, and I really thought they were good for each other. I do think that some parts seemed a bit rushed, and even though the movie runs nearly 2hours and 20 minutes, I wouldn't have minded their relationship being explored a tad more. But overall, I think it works.

The reason why the movie stays afloat is Julia Roberts. Her portrayal of Liz is easily her best performance since ERIN BROCKOVICH. At 42, she looks great and was the perfect person to play Liz, who goes through all the emotions and Roberts nails every one. There's a scene early on when she is so scared to go through life, and it's heartbreaking because of the work that Julia does. She's very impressive here. Billy Crudup is mostly bland, but I think that was on purpose. But, he does have a great moment after the first divorce hearing that is a harsh and honest moment of realization for Liz. Like I said, Jenkins does a decent job even if his character is a little cheesy. Bardem doesn't just phone this one in, only looking handsome. He actually does some acting too, like in the scene when he talks about the love for his grown son. It's a beautiful moment of acting.

I have yet to see Ryan Murphy's first feature film (RUNNING WITH SCISSORS), but I thought he did a fine job here. There's plenty of second unit photography that makes a great travelogue, but Murphy's first hand direction also seems self-assured. He gives the actors room to breath and emote, not always going for the quick cuts. It's a mature film that has real weight to it. The script could have been a little stronger. I think the stories weren't equally balanced. I think the last section should have been expanded and the second one shortened. I can only imagine that writing the script must have been difficult given the structure of the source material. So taking that into consideration, I would say this film is fairly successful.

Even with it's (mostly minor) problems, EAT PRAY LOVE is a compelling story about a person learning out how to live life and love effortlessly. The film's biggest key to it's success, however, is Julia Roberts, who hasn't been this good in a long time. I enjoyed watching why she has become a household name in Hollywood. This is a great date movie, and I'm sure many close minded men will hate this, but I'm more like a woman anyway. So I liked it. Whatever. I'm fine with that.

*** (out of ****)