Posts tagged Thailand
“The Hangover Part III” Third in a Successful, Redundant Series
Jun 1st
“Successful, Redundant Series”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Hangover Part III is not as good as the first movie in the trilogy, but much better than the second one, which was just a remake of the first one but with the setting changed from Las Vegas to Thailand.
This one mixes up the basic plot of a lost weekend in connection with a wedding for the hapless men known as The Wolfpack, and it moves the setting back to Las Vegas, as well as adding two new characters to the mix.
Oh, and it also has a wedding, but you might be surprised at who gets married.
Once again the self-named Wolfpack consists of Phil, played by Bradley Cooper; Stu, played by Ed Helms; and Alan, played by Zach Galifianakis.
Doug is back, as well, but just as in the first two movies, he is missing from most of the story. That guy just can’t catch a break, can he?
After a brief prelude in Thailand, which features Mr. Chow, again played by Ken Jeong, the story begins with Alan driving down the freeway towing a live giraffe behind him and yelling, “Oh, my life is great!”
Alan is 42 years old and still living at home, and his life is anything but great and just keeps getting worse, mostly because he says he will never change, and this time he has an excuse.
Meanwhile, a gangster named Marshall, played by John Goodman, interrupts everybody’s plans and forces them to find Mr. Chow in order for Marshall to get back $21 million in gold that Chow stole from him.
No problem, right? Well, yes, lots of problems, but eventually they find Chow in Las Vegas and the madcap antics start all over again, some funny and some not so funny.
So, how many more of these movies can we take, and how many more can be made?
Well, the possibilities are endless and frightening, which means as long as they make money, which they seem to do.
After all, there is still one member of the Wolfpack who is not married, and then there is the possibility of divorce parties for all of them, but now I am just beginning to make everybody sick.
The Hangover Part III might not be the end of these movies, but just another one of a successful, redundant series.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Hangover Part II” Same Movie Twice
Jun 2nd
“Same Movie Twice”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Hangover Part II is, sure enough, the sequel to the most successful R-rated comedy of all time, and you will have to admit that this one is even raunchier than the first one.
Not funnier, just raunchier.
As a matter of fact, this is just the same movie as the first one with even the same characters, except that there is a different groom and it takes place in Bangkok, Thailand, instead of in Las Vegas.
It even has a new catch phrase to replace “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” The new catch phrase is “Bangkok has him now, and it will never let him go.”
Once again we have Bradley Cooper as Phil, Ed Helms as Stu, Zach Galifianakis as Alan, and Ken Jeong as Mr. Chow, and the plot is exactly the same, except for the change of locale.
Even Doug, the groom who was missing for most of the story in the first movie returns, and he is even missing for most of the story in this one, too, except that everyone knows where he is. The person whose whereabouts aren’t known is Teddy, the 16-year-old brother of the bride.
So, here is the story. Stu, the mild-mannered dentist who has a dark side with a demon in him, is getting married to Lauren, a beautiful woman from Thailand, and the wedding ceremony is to take place on her parents’ estate in Thailand.
When the movie opens, Phil is talking on a phone, and he says, “It happened again,” adding that the situation is a little worse than “no-wedding bad.”
Then we see a title of “One Week Earlier,” and here we go again.
Stu doesn’t even want a bachelor party and is happy to settle for a bachelor brunch at a local IHOP restaurant, and he is even forced to invite Alan to the wedding, who was the cause of all the trouble the first time.
Once in Thailand, everything goes from bad to worse, especially after the guys go have a campfire on the beach and what was planned to be only one beer and roast some marshmallows.
And they wake up the next morning in a trashed hotel room in Bangkok with no idea where Teddy is.
The Hangover Part II should have been called “The Hangover, Take II.”
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”