The Hangover Part II

http://hangoverpart2.warnerbros.com/

Anyone who reads my tumblr blog will know that when I went up north recently, I queued some items on that blog to keep my readers entertained while I was away.

The theme of this queue was 'Films I was looking forward to seeing in May'. For anyone who doesn't read my tumblr blog, those films were; Water For Elephants, Something Borrowed, Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and The Hangover Part II. Of all of those films I think The Hangover Part II was the one I was most looking forward to. 

The first Hangover film introduced me to the hotness of Bradley Cooper and was one of the rarest things in movies, it was a comedy that actually made me laugh. Several times as I recall. It's not that I don't have a sense of humor, it's just rare for comedies to make me laugh out loud. So that was all I wanted from the sequel, Bradley to still be hot and some laughs. Skip to the end if you want to find out if that's what I got.

For everyone else I will give a brief run down of the story. Stu (Ed Helms) is getting married (again) and takes the three best friends that anyone could have - Doug (Justin Bartha), Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) - as well as his wife-to-be's brother Teddy (Mason Lee) to Bangkok for his bachelor party. They all get wasted and three of the five - Stu, Phil and Alan - wake up in a room they don't recognise and apparently missing two of their group. Doug soon checks in safe and sound (unlike last time) which means Teddy is missing. A frantic re-tracing of steps ensues to try and locate the missing brother in law to be.

Sound familiar? It ought to because the producers of The Hangover Part II seem to think that the key to a successful sequel is to rip off the first film completely. It's an almost identical film to the first, the only difference is the setting and the missing person. Oh and they swapped a Tiger for a Monkey. Whup-de-do.

Yes Bradley is still hot, but I was so disappointed with how bland the film was, I barely noticed. The jokes are all the same as the first time around, Stu even sings a jaunty song and yes, even Mike Tyson makes another pointless appearance. All of the scenes which made the first Hangover so unique and funny are now played out in such a glaringly obvious way that you can see the punchline coming long before the joke's been told. The only upside for me was that Mr Chow, who everyone seemed to love last time out (but who really annoyed me), was actually a lot funnier and a lot less annoying this time. 

Easily the most disappointing of all the films I wanted to see this month. 6.5 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 26th May 2011

UK Release Date - 26th May 2011

Cast Overview:

Bradley Cooper ~ Phil

Ed Helms ~ Stu

Zach Galifianakis ~ Alan

Justin Bartha ~ Doug

Ken Jeong ~ Mr Chow

Paul Giamatti ~ Kingsley

Mason Lee ~ Teddy

Jamie Chung ~ Lauren

Director ~ Todd Phillips

Writer(s) ~ Craig Mazin, Scot Armstrong and Todd Phillips

Limitless

http://www.iamrogue.com/limitless

For those of you who know me, you will know that writing this review is the first real test of my ability to remain professional in the face of undoubted favoritism. Can I be objective about a film when I openly lust after the male lead? This test will be applied again when Source Code comes out on the 1st April. Only that will be an even bigger test than this, seeing as my love for Jakey goes above and beyond my love of anyone else.

But for now we're talking about my love of Bradley, err, what I meant to say is that we're talking about Limitless.

Limitless is based on the novel The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn. This is a well known book but one which I was not aware of until the first rumblings about the movie adaptation were being discussed back in the early part of 2008. At this time Shia LaBeouf was attached to star, but then he broke his hand in the infamous car crash/DUI of the summer of 2008 and The Dark Fields movie had to find itself a new star. Enter Bradley Cooper. Fresh from the success of The Hangover and The A Team, Cooper took on the lead role of Eddie Morra and also bagged himself a producer credit on the film. He's also responsible for the addition of Robert De Niro to the cast as he pitched the film to De Niro himself.

The story is told from Eddie's perspective, a struggling writer who is given an experimental drug which allows him to access 100% of his brain. This allows him to finish his book in 4 days, a book he's been trying to write for years. It also allows him to absorb information at an alarming rate, he learns languages and instruments in a matter of days and figures out very quickly how to play the stock market. But his body can only handle so much and eventually he starts to feel the ill effects of the drug and has to make a life altering decision.

I can't vouch for whether the film is loyal to the book as I haven't read the book. However, I can say that the direction of film, while impressive in the way it puts you in Eddie's mindset, also enduces a certain amount of queasyness with it's fast fowarding through time and upside downside angles. I can also say that having now seen the movie I have a hard time picturing Shia LaBeouf in this role. I'm not sure whether that's thanks to Bradley making it his own or just the fact that the script demands an older actor? I'm not sure if the script was re-worked for Bradley when Shia dropped out but with an 11 year age gap between them it's not as if they vie for similar roles.

Leaving my bias at the door I must say that I thought Bradley did a really great job. Eddie is not the most likable character and yet through the use of the Cooper charm he becomes someone that you root for, hoping that things end well for him. He really does carry this movie, even with support from De Niro this is Bradley's film and kudos to him for holding the audience's attention for the duration whilst also holding his own against an acting heavyweight. 

It's not going to win any awards but Limitless is entertaining and well acted. 8 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 23rd March 2011

UK Release Date - 23rd March 2011

Cast Overview:

Bradley Cooper ~ Eddie Morra

Robert De Niro ~ Carl Van Loon

Abbie Cornish ~ Lindy

Anna Friel ~ Melissa

Johnny Whitworth ~ Vern

Director ~ Neil Burger

Writer(s) ~ Leslie Dixon (Screenplay) and Alan Glynn (Novel)