Source: The Hangover via Facebook
The laughter-filled first Hangover movie released in 2009 was a rip-roaring success. Watching a bunch of idiots try to piece together events from the previous night’s bachelor party and track down the missing groom was a recipe for non-stop giggles. The film starring Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, and Justin Bartha was not only a box office sensation that pulled in $467.5 million, it was also well received by notoriously hard-to-please critics including Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian, who gave it four out of five stars. Unfortunately, though, as tends to be the case with a lot of sequels, the follow-ups just couldn’t recreate the same hilarity as the first. What went wrong?
First of all, it should be noted that the second and third installments of The Hangover franchise were by no means box office flops – they both still pulled in a staggering amount of revenue for Warner Bros. Pictures. The trilogy amassed a total of $1.42 billion from the box office, making it the biggest ‘R’ rated franchise ever, so in this regard, the films can be considered extremely successful. However, the follow-up episodes to Todd Phillip’s 2009 hit were slated on a critical level, and received scores of 33% and 20% on Rotten Tomatoes for Part II and Part III respectively. Compared to the score of 79% for the first one, that is a dramatic decline.
One massive aspect that was missing from most of the second and third parts of The Hangover series were scenes in Las Vegas (see above). Sin City is such an iconic, exciting, and electrifying location that really helps to sell movies. You only have to look at the success of titles like Ocean’s Eleven and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to see that. The first film had that, and was a smash. In 2009, the online gambling market was worth over $20 billion, so it will probably come as no surprise that there’s even a Hangover-based slot game from IGT games that features symbols of all the main characters from the film, with players able to claim free spins no deposit bonuses from online casinos to try this game for free. Mr Chow also makes an appearance, providing players with some hilarious advice and instructions.
The reason that large audiences flocked back for the entire franchise was down to the returning much-loved characters like Alan and Mr Chow. The premise of seeing them go crazy in different locations was too intriguing to miss. And it wasn’t the actors that let the viewers down, it was the script writing. Where the Hangover succeeded in its uniqueness, the follow-ups failed in their regurgitation of old gags and themes. If someone tells you the same joke over and over again, eventually you’re going to stop laughing, right? A review from the Atlantic noted that it just wasn’t plausible that these guys would make exactly the same mistakes again.
One thing that the creators of The Hangover can be happy about is the fact that they’re not the only film-makers to fail with their follow-up. Other comedy sequels that have bombed after strong original films include Evan Almighty, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, and Blues Brothers 2000. These titles, along with the Hangover Part II and Part III are best off consigned to the history books.
Garon Cockrell is the Founder and Editor of Pop Culture Beast and host of The Pop Culture Beast Show. He founded the site over seven years ago to have a place on the internet to write about the things he loved. Since then, Garon has become a best-selling author (Demonic and Other Tales), an award winning screenwriter (Best Screenplay 2013 Motor City Nightmares Film Festival), and a cast member on the top rated podcast, Never Not Funny.