The Hangover Part 2

Comedy sequels, are they ever better the second time around? Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey? Honey I Blew Up The Kid? Twilight: New Moon? Generally sequels aren't always as shiny as their predecessors, that's for sure. Perhaps that is why this is a 'Part Deux' and not a sequel?
Director of the hi-larious The Hangover, Todd Phillips is not only directing this time around but has also gotten himself a co-screenwriter credit along with fellow scribes Craig Mazin (Scary Movie 3 & 4) and Scot Armstrong (Starsky & Hutch, Old School).
A few years have passed since the first flick and Stu (Ed Helms - The Hangover) is about to get married. Again. This time he's marrying the lovely Lauren (Jamie Chung - Suckerpunch) in Thailand (pronounced Thigh-land).  Not happy with having Stu's bachelor party at the local IHOP, Phil (Bradley Cooper - The Hangover), Doug (Justin Bartha The Hangover), and, after not wanting to invite him for obvious reasons, Alan (Zach Galifianakis - The Hangover) decide to throw Stu a bachelor party over in Thailand two days before the wedding. Lauren's sixteen year old, Dougie Howser-esque brother Teddy (Mason Lee - Chosen) join the boys on the beach for a bonfire and a few underage beers. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy.
The next morning, Phil, Alan and Stu wake up in a crappy hotel room in a strange city with a monkey in a denim vest. Stu has a tattoo, Alan has a bald head. No one can remember what happened the night before. No one knows where Teddy is, well the rest of him anyway, they do have his finger... and Mr Chow (Ken Jeong - The Hangover).
The day is spent wandering the streets of Bangkok checking out strip clubs, police stations and monasteries as they try to piece together what the frak happened the night before. The boys have to find Teddy and get back to the resort in time for Stu to get married.
Comparisons to the first flick are inevitable...
As funny as this one is, I do remember laughing much more with the first one. The first half hour of this one was super funny but the laughs kinda leveled out after a while. The cast were all good but Galifianakis was, again, the stand out and had some of the best lines. Paul Giamatti was great as the scary businessman and I loved Jeffrey Tambor as Alan's dad again. Someone needs to get that man another TV show STAT. Cooper didn't have enough shirtless scenes. Jeong had way too many : )
I won't go too much into it as spoilers are bound to spoil.  
As with the first, the photos during the credits are very funny.
Things I learnt: I so need an intercom on my desk; this must be what Charlie Sheen's life is like every day; if a drug mule is a monkey is it still a mule?
Same thing, different town, some new laughs.
Seven out of ten.