Film File - The Hangover 2

"Oh no, it's happened again!" moans a filth-encrusted Bradley Cooper from a hotel rooftop in the opening minutes of 'Hangover 2', a scenario that can only mean the hardy bucks are once again on the bachelor party rampage. But this time the location isn't Las Vegas, it's a whole other cultural ball of wax - Bangkok. In the summer of 2009, director Todd Phillips' 'The Hangover' became a worldwide hit, surpassing all expectations. Almost overnight and with very little publicity, it became one of the sleeper hit comedies of the year - a hard legacy to surpass the second time around. Adhering to that enshrined Hollywood mantra - 'if it worked once, give it another whirl regardless' - the filmmakers once again assembled the same cast for another spin on the goodtime wheel. For the further adventures of Phil, Stu, Doug and Alan, the starting point was finding a city where it would be a catastrophically bad idea to go. There was one place that really fit the bill: Bangkok. Being in a vibrant, vital foreign city with an infamous wild side also raised the comic stakes for three American men freed from the conventional bonds of civilised behaviour. "When you go to Vegas, everyone speaks English, you can get where you need to go, you can use a phone and call someone," said screenwriter Scot Armstrong, who co-wrote the script with Craig Mazin. "But in Bangkok, you're navigating a place that's totally unfamiliar. You have no straws to grab on to. Thailand opened up so many possibilities for us to have these characters get totally out of control and then deal with the next day regret." The story unfolds two years after the infamous incidents in Vegas - where now everybody's life has progressed in a conventional straight line. Alan (Zach Galifianakis) is still living at home with his parents. Doug (Justin Bartha) and Tracy (Sasha Barrese) are happily married and expecting a baby; Phil (Bradley Cooper) has had another kid, and Stu (Ed Helms) has met a wonderful girl and is engaged to be married. Her parents are from Thailand, so that's where they've decided to hold the wedding. Given his history with certain pre-wedding customs and still gun-shy from his experience in Vegas, Stu has set one specific limitation on his friends - no traditional bachelor party. Full stop. With so much baggage going into his wedding, Stu wants to make sure he does nothing to jeopardise his already tenuous relationship with his future in-laws, Joi and Fohn, played by popular Thai actors Penpak Sirikul and Nirut Sirichanya. To this end, the groom has left one conspicuous name off the invite list - Alan. Like all in-laws, however, no man is right for their little princess, Lauren (Jamie Chung). Her father despises Stu, viewing him as a spineless nerd not worthy of his precious jewel - think Robert De Niro in 'Meet The Fockers' and you'll be close. In Fohn's eyes, Stu suffers by comparison to Lauren's little brother, Teddy (Mason Lee), a gifted cello virtuoso and a brilliant pre-med student at Stanford University, all at the age of 16. To compound matters, Teddy also presents an immediate affront to Alan's idea of the primal, hard-fought privilege of belonging to the wolfpack. During their tour of shame through the dark lanes and red-light streets of Bangkok, the guys encounter a host of surprising personalities, including grizzled expats, Russian drug dealers, mob figures, and even a Buddhist monk. One not so Zen-like character is Kingsley, an enigmatic crime figure, played by Paul Giamatti, and there's even a cameo from Mike Tyson as himself, and the chattering madness of Crystal, the drug-dealing monkey. Using the same basic premise from the first film - guys wake up in unfamiliar surroundings utterly confused from a cocktail of drugs and alcohol only to discover the groom is missing. Backtracking the previous night's activities, they slowly piece together the stag night from hell. Being Bangkok, expect surgically enhanced ladyboys, chain-smoking animals, gross bodily functions, motorbike helmet fights and some expats nobody should have messed with. 'The Hangover 2' is far from original - in fact, it doesn't even try that hard to bring anything new to the party. It is a little bit darker this time, though, and some of the sight gags veer very close to gross-out. But, for the millions who loved the first instalment, this one delivers the same goods with bells on. And guess what? There's already talk of a third outing. Wonder if the lads will try for Temple Bar this time around?