The 9 Most Scathing Critical Responses to The Hangover Part II

The latest definition of critic-proof? Try The Hangover Part II. The Todd Phillips-directed sequel is currently rocking a mere 32 percent Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and yet headed for at least $100 million at the box office over Memorial Day weekend. Sorry, critics! It seems you can't account for taste -- or the need for audiences to see Ed Helms with a face tattoo. Ahead, the nine most scathing reviews of The Hangover Part II.

9. "The Hangover Part II is the worst sequel of all time. I realize that is quite a claim. After all, the 20th century gave us Death Wish II, Child's Play 3 and Return To The Blue Lagoon. The 21st has already thrown up such hideous cultural artefacts as Saw III, Daddy Day Camp and Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. But The Hangover Part II trounces all competition by being four diabolical movies in one. It offers an aggressively bone-headed glorification of male sexism, a toe-curlingly racist view of the non-American world, and a Gary Glitterish celebration of sex tourism." -- Chris Tookey, Daily Mail

8. "The whole point of this franchise is to make even jaded adults laugh in shock at the outrageous behavior on display. This strategy works best in the final credit sequence, which, in another shameless lift from the original, reveals in a series of rediscovered snapshots what happened on that one wild night in Bangkok. That minute and a half of still photos packs in more dense, economical laughs than all the laborious gross-outs and chase sequences that came before. Maybe The Hangover Part III should consider restricting itself to the slide-show format." -- Dana Stevens, Slate

7. "What the hell happened? Wouldn't you like to know. But The Hangover Part II makes it hard to care. The answer involves a cokehead low-life (played, once again, by Ken Jeong), a sly gangster (Paul Giamatti, in a small role), libidinous she-males, and assorted drug-dealing baddies. Meanwhile, Stu is in danger of missing his own wedding, but of course that's incidental: No one really cares." -- Stephanie Zacharek, Movieline

6."While a lot of us -- myself included -- had great fun with the original Hangover two years ago, director Todd Phillips seems to be relying all too heavily on the idea that we just want to see the first movie again. (We can do that. At home. For a lot less money.)" -- Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times

5."Basically, if you want to avoid spoilers for The Hangover Part II, don't watch The Hangover." -- Eric D. Snider, Film.com

4. "Wastrels think the formula for a hangover is the hair of the dog, but this flaccid follow-up to the hit comedy expects us to swallow the entire rotting carcass. For such a brazen act of counterfeiting, writer and director Todd Phillips belongs in a Thai prison." -- Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

3. "So Mike Tyson's tattoo artist tried to stop the worldwide distribution of The Hangover Part II, based on the premise that the filmmakers had stolen his Maori-inspired design and stuck it on Ed Helms' face. I guess that wasn't much of a legal case, which is too bad, because as it turns out the guy was accidentally trying to perform a public service. Maybe he should have tried the argument that the movie sucks so bad that if anyone, anywhere, thinks he had anything to do with it that amounts to defamation of character." -- Andrew O'Hehir, Salon

2. "The first Hangover is one of my favorite comedies of this decade, still watchably anarchic any time you turn it on. Its sequel made me sort of hate it, to distrust the creative mindset that allowed both it and this to exist. If you love the first film, seriously, do not see this one. You'll ruin two movies at once." -- Will Leitch, Yahoo! Movies

1. "The Hangover Part II is an asshole." -- Mike Ryan, Vanity Fair



Comments

  • Movieline alums, represent!

  • Jamie Noir says:

    This makes me worry that the inevitable The Hangover Part III won't be totally awesome.

  • sissi212 says:

    I don't understand you guys, you sound like a bunch of haters not critics- I saw this movie today to a sold out audience and laughed until I cried.(I'll definitely see this again) lighten up this is not Shakespeare it's a comedy!

  • JaySin420 says:

    I'm not shocked at all, I liked the first one but not as much as everyone else.
    It was a funny movie, but not any funnier than movies like StepBrothers or Hot Tub Time Machine.

  • jacob says:

    If it were 20-30 mins shorter it would've been a much funnier movie! Even my wife thought it was a bit too long. Some great laughs but still didn't touch hangover pt 1 or hangover x 2

  • olivia says:

    Who would go to a movie like this and expect it to be good?

  • isabella says:

    I really wish people stopped seeing these shitty movies..
    Lets see more Godfather's, and Schindler's lists!

  • firebrand says:

    LOL at those critics. Haters gonna hate.

  • CALLUM says:

    The only believable or enjoyable dialogue in The Hangover Part II was the complete silence uttered by the cameo Buddhist Monk, it's emptiness a metaphor for my soul after the viewing experience.

  • M. Gibson says:

    Re Isabella: Yeah, we can ALWAYS use MORE movies where lots of Jews get slaughtered!

  • Vidalia says:

    CLEARLY Chris Tookey has never seen Problem Child 2.

  • 2GQ4U says:

    I didn't like the first one. I guess I went in with too much expectation from all the hype. I went to see part 2 with NO expectations and enjoyed it, except for the meaninglessly unnecessary, incessant and gratuitous "F-bomb" dropping.

  • I somewhat agree, but some matters should be done a bit differently.

  • This movie makes no sense, for what did they repeat mike tyson for ? Unoriginallity. Why couldn't they make clues about the night before instead showing those disgusting photos in the end? By then everyone would have left BORED as hell. Lastly not every movie should be release after, if it sucks. We are desperate for quality checking in the movie industry!