Left Feeling Hungover

In the days since I saw 'The Hangover II' I have been wondering why I wasn't feeling like a gospel should be dedicated to this film. Why I wasn't thrilled to the edge of giddiness about the Wolf Pack, and why my abs weren't aching from the belly laughs.

And I think, perhaps, it is because this installment in the franchise was so formulaic it made my heart sink. Maybe it was because throughout the entire film, you had this unsettling feeling that you had seen this movie before. Well, you had.

Step 1: Alan is hastily brought along to the Bachelor Party.

Step 2: The Wolf Pack promises a night no one shall forget (or remember.)

Step 3: A mistake leads to everyone forgetting (Hangover: Drugged by Alan Hangover II: Drugged by Alan via marshmallows)

Step 4: Wake up in a hotel room

Step 5: Haphazard journey around the city. The beginning you show the audience where the missing person is. Hangover: The mattress on the roof. Hangover II: The Elevator is broken.

Step 6: Late arrival at wedding complete with a rant from Stu about how he has learned something.

Step 7: See the pictures from the night before.

It seems that The Hangover II may have been a surprising, uproarious, devil-may-care movie, if we hadn't seen it the year before. I may not have felt cheated if this film lived in a world without the initial film.

But instead, I felt like I watched a lazy, lackluster stroll through former comedy. I felt, that even though the Wolf Pack was reunited, they left their heart in Las Vegas, or perhaps behind like Justin Bartha's character always seems to.

And, above all of this, in an article by The Rolling Stone, Zach Galifianakis talks about the potential The Hangover III.

We shall see, but for now, I feel a bit hungover.