The Hangover (2009)Director: Todd Phillips
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham, Jeffrey Tambor, Ken Jeong, Rachel Harris
Another double up for the year. I was inspired to watch The Hangover again by a friend of mine who went to a Halloween party dressed as Alan (Galifianakis's character) in what was one of the best costumes I've seen in a long time.
Again, I don't want to spend a lot of time repeating myself, you can read my thoughts in my previous blog on the film, but I did want to talk sequels. After The Hangover killed it at the box office there was never any doubt that there would be a sequel. Hollywood studios just don't turn down money making opportunities like that. So The Hangover II is shooting at the moment and I don't have high hopes for it. The plot of the sequel seems to revolve around Stu's bucks party this time with the setting being Bangkok rather than Vegas. It sounds very much like the same story, different jokes. While I'm sure it will have a lot of real laughs I'm not sure it will be as clever and obviously as original, as the first one. Doing the same thing again, I'm concerned that it will just feel like watching deleted scenes from the first film.
The big controversy around the sequel has been the fact that Mel Gibson was going to have a cameo appearance in the film until certain cast members, Galifianakis believed to be one of them, said they objected to working with the fallen star, leading to his being replaced with Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper's mate from The A-Team. Now I know this is not a popular stance at the moment, but I actually quite like Mel Gibson. Obviously he's clearly a nut bag, but since when has that been a disqualifying characteristic in Hollywood. He's got a definite screen presence and is quite comically gifted, and I think would have really worked in the role as a Bangkok tattoo artist. What has a number of people questioning this decision though is the seeming double standard of refusing to work with Gibson, despite having used convicted rapist Mike Tyson in a cameo role in the original.
There are also reports that former US President Bill Clinton has filmed a cameo in the picture. The White House to Hollywood, he's the anti-Reagan.
Another double up for the year. I was inspired to watch The Hangover again by a friend of mine who went to a Halloween party dressed as Alan (Galifianakis's character) in what was one of the best costumes I've seen in a long time.
Again, I don't want to spend a lot of time repeating myself, you can read my thoughts in my previous blog on the film, but I did want to talk sequels. After The Hangover killed it at the box office there was never any doubt that there would be a sequel. Hollywood studios just don't turn down money making opportunities like that. So The Hangover II is shooting at the moment and I don't have high hopes for it. The plot of the sequel seems to revolve around Stu's bucks party this time with the setting being Bangkok rather than Vegas. It sounds very much like the same story, different jokes. While I'm sure it will have a lot of real laughs I'm not sure it will be as clever and obviously as original, as the first one. Doing the same thing again, I'm concerned that it will just feel like watching deleted scenes from the first film.
The big controversy around the sequel has been the fact that Mel Gibson was going to have a cameo appearance in the film until certain cast members, Galifianakis believed to be one of them, said they objected to working with the fallen star, leading to his being replaced with Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper's mate from The A-Team. Now I know this is not a popular stance at the moment, but I actually quite like Mel Gibson. Obviously he's clearly a nut bag, but since when has that been a disqualifying characteristic in Hollywood. He's got a definite screen presence and is quite comically gifted, and I think would have really worked in the role as a Bangkok tattoo artist. What has a number of people questioning this decision though is the seeming double standard of refusing to work with Gibson, despite having used convicted rapist Mike Tyson in a cameo role in the original.
There are also reports that former US President Bill Clinton has filmed a cameo in the picture. The White House to Hollywood, he's the anti-Reagan.
No comments:
Post a Comment