When the trailer for Bruno debuted in 2009, Universal tried to sell audiences on the critical love for Sacha Baron Cohen's previous summer comedy, Borat. It didn't work. Cut to 2011, and here comes Warner Bros. using a similar strategy in the first teaser for The Hangover Part II (it looks like those Roman numerals are part of the official title), which uses quotes about the first film to fill up much of the trailer's length. Is this highly anticipated sequel doomed to face a Bruno-like box office fate?
Har! Not likely. Despite the fact that the teaser for The Hangover Part II seems cut together to look like Hostel III -- those Thailand jail cells are scary! -- it does a good job of reminding fans why they should be excited for the continuation of the story. Quite literally, in fact: "The Wolfpack is Back," says a title card over a shot of Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms, while the Jay-Z song "Reminder" blares on the soundtrack. (You'll recall Galifianakis' character referred to the three friends as "The Wolfpack" in the original.)
That bit of branding is likely to stick more than a quote from Gary Thompson's Philadelphia Daily News review of the first film ("The Citizen Kane of bachelor party movies"), as is the mysterious monkey that seems to have replaced Justin Bartha's character in 'pack's inner circle. Don't worry: Bartha will appear in the sequel, too, along with Paul Giamatti, Liam Neeson, Mike Tyson and Ken Jeong. Let's hope there's a glimpse of those fellas in the full trailer when that rolls around in a month or so. For now, though...
VERDICT: Sold.
Head over to Apple to watch the HD trailer now.