The Hangover: Part 2 (2011)

Demand equals Supply divided by Cost.
I'm just messing with you but seriously, that's the subtext here. And the 'sequel' in general.
And most Hollywood fare.
So The Hangover: Part 2, eh? It seems like just yesterday that we saw the first one. If I percieved the feeling or mood right... Most people loved it and even if you didn't love it, you'd put put your hands up and say, 'M'yeah it was pretty good...'.  What I do know is that I saw it at least twice at the cinema and i would struggle to name many films i've seen twice in a cinema. We're talking Inception and The Matrix here. And I didn't even think it would was the greatest comedy of that year (Funny People) but it was good enough to see a second time. Of course now, the 3 stars -Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis are major stars... well maybe not Ed Helms but Bradley Cooper is a major actor now and Galifianakis is at that level in comedy where he's up there with Sandler and Ferrell. Ed Helms didn't jump the TV ship quick enough. But it's not to late for him because now we have The Hangover: Part 2, a film that, at least in this country has come out less than 2years after the original. But it's not surprising since the original was a short-gamble as comedies are inexpensive (in comparison to other genre movies) and the hard 'R' rated comedy was, as it still is, popular with audiences stemming back to Knocked Up in 2007. It's been said before but it bears repeating- comedies are what makes studios money. If you thinking back to films of the 1920's, you're thinking Chaplin or Keaton. So I'm not saying that action blockbusters don't make money but the average one will cost 300mil after prints and advertising, and maybe make 500-600mil back. The first 'Hangover' probably cost 30-40mil and still brought in that 500-600mil.
I'm sorry-i got carried away... the thing that's going for this movie is that it unashamedly is prepared to follow the blueprint of the original. It's bigger and on location in Bangkok but it's certainly business as usual- all the favorites are back, they're retracing their steps to 'hilarious' consequences, they even do the photo bit at the end as you'd expect they might.
So obviously, my beef is with the lukewarm script. It's a shame but the original writers were seemingly not involved and it's credited to director Todd Phillips and his usual writer, Scot Armstrong and rent-a-hack, Craig Mazin. To me, the situation reeks of Warner Bros asking Mazin to knock up a script, quick-as and they just punched it up on the way. There's no sense of building on what came before- only a distinct feeling of repeating the original against a different backdrop. That's not to say there's no laughs in Part 2, but not near as many as the first. But then that's what you have to expect from a rush job. I don't want to come off too harsh because it's not terrible and i know I'll see films i like less in the next week but it's hard not to be cynical about a film that was so cynically made...

I watched The Hangover: Part 2 (2011) at the cinema.
My 2011 in Movies will return with Violent Cop (1989)...

It's Kind Of A Funny Story (2010)

There are a lot of reasons for me to like It's Kind Of A Funny Story.
Keir Gilchrist, who's really great in Diablo Cody's tv show, United States of Tara. 
Emma Roberts, who's... Julia Roberts' niece. (I'm sorry Emma Roberts, you're gonna have to win an Oscar before people cut that shit out. Could be worse- People could call you, 'Eric Roberts' daughter'.) Seriously, she was very good in 4,3,2,1. 
And Zach Galifianakis, the Milk Tray man of movies. He'll break in but he'll only steal your heart.
But mainly, who doesn't want to watch a comedy drama about mentally depressed people. Of the sub-genres of the 'mental depressed people' movies, comedy-drama is my favs...


Gosh. I'm telling you i would have loved this film when i was 15. maybe not- I was pretty self-aware at 15. Um. 12. I would have loved It's Kind Of A Funny Story when i was 12.
That's an arsey back-handed compliment- It's a really good film and i'm a sucker for this sort of story- where a teenage boy has girl trouble and he's sensitive and stuff. That would be my 'joint'. Like (in an astounding generalisation-) girls seem to like movies with dancing and romance- the 'sensitive teen boy' genre would be my equivalent. 
If you had to draw poorly thought-out comparisons, you could say this film is like Fisher-Price - My First 'Cookoo's Nest'. Or if you found 'One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest' too lurid and violent, this might be for you. 
It's a about a 15yo boy who suffering from feeling suicidal (read-being a 15years old) and inadvertently checks himself in for a week's observation at a psych ward, with real people with psychiatric issues.
That said there's no one on that ward who's truly crippled by their illness; there's no one 'tripping balls' on Diazepam so they stop chewing their itchy skin off but i'm missing the point, the psych ward is merely the setting for this tale.
Keir Gilchrist is really great in his role as the precocious every-teen. Emma Roberts is perfect as his cute fragile foil.
Galifianakis is great in his role as... Zach Galifianakis. I'm not under the impression he can play anyone else, I don't really want him to but here it's a more muted motivational character like a chubby white Bagger Vance.
I'd like to highlight that i love that the film doesn't ever become maudlin- I mean here, Galifianakis is playing someone actually suicidal but he's not acting like he's aching for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar by laying on the dramatics with a spade- he's good at putting on just enough emotion that it's never syrupy. The other thing I liked was nothing really changes in the end 'cept Gilchrist appreciates his life a bit more. Watching this, i realised that male puberty is starting to checking out girls boobs you like platonically or aren't even remotely attracted to. Getting old is realising you're condemned to do that with 99% of woman you come in contact with.
Which is strange, cos nothing like that happens in this film. 
I don't question where enlightenment comes from.
It's a pleasant Sunday afternoon of a film- perfect for that. It’s probably like a blokey version of My So Called Life but I’ve never seen that.
...
This is good, though...


I watched It's Kind Of A Funny Story (2010) at the cinema.
My 2011 in Movies will return with The Night of The Hunter (1955)...