The Hangover Part II

Here is a trailer that tries something different and depending on your personal tastes, could be all the better or all the cheaper for it.

I recall a conversation had with a close friend in 2004 when we got a teaser trailer for 'Ocean's 12.' Forgot about that movie, didn't ya? Anyway, to fully appreciate the story, gaze upon the brief trailer in question:



My friend complained that this trailer did not bother to let the movie stand on its own merits, but rather, it simply said to the audience: "Hey, you remember those characters you liked three years ago? Well they're doing it again..." To which I see his point. Nothing in the teaser for 'Ocean's 12' is particularly compelling or interesting. It is nothing more than an announcement teaser.

Now, seven years later, we have the teaser for "The Hangover Part II" which actually commits a very similar sin, but to better results, in my opinion. While the teaser says absolutely nothing of the plot of the movie, it actually does in small ways: by at least showing footage from the film, even if it is just the main three guys walking down the street, we get a few hints what to expect... a monkey, a bald Zach GalalKJdlkzhsflkshnuggets, and Ed Helms with a facial tattoo similar (or exactly like, I can't be sure--) Mike Tyson's. This little move is rather brilliant because while it doesn't give us much to go on, it reminds us that like the first one, our three characters will spend the movie hung over, sorting out the events of the previous night, and solving some mystery. What that mystery is, we don't know. And given the still sky-high popularity of the original and its lead actors, we don't need to know. People will go.

So yes. The trailer does basically say, like 'Ocean's 12,' 'Hey, remember how much you liked the first one? Come on back for the second!' Yet it does so with more style, more cheekiness, and more success.

Opening Day.

Pic opens May 26, 2011.