2009’s sleeper hit ‘The Hangover’ is the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise the Wolfpack is back. What’s surprising is how familiar ‘Part II’ is to the original, matching it almost beat-for-beat, and yet it somehow still manages to work.

‘The Hangover: Part II’ has literally the same exact structure as the first. Instead of Doug (Justin Bartha) getting married, this time around it’s Stu (Ed Helms). Instead of Vegas, we get Thailand. Stu’s future brother-in-law (Mason Lee) goes missing rather than Doug. A severed finger is found instead of a mattress. No baby is found, but a silent monk is. A character is shot with a gun instead of shocked by a taser. There’s a drug-dealing monkey instead of Mike Tyson’s tiger. But there’s still Mike Tyson.

Like the first film, ‘Part II’ has the Wolfpack celebrating the marriage with a few drinks. The next thing they know, they all wake up in an unknown location and unable to remember anything from the night before. Only by searching through clues and questioning strangers they’ve encountered overnight can the Wolfpack find their missing friend and make it back to the wedding on time. Even though all of this is extremely familiar, the film’s constant barrage of laughs overshadow its flaws.

Alan (Zach Galifianakis) was the break-out star from the first ‘Hangover’, and he continues to steal scenes in ‘Part II’. However, this time around Ken Jeong (‘Community’) also steals many scenes with the return of his super-flamboyant Asian gangster, Mr. Chow.

I laughed more in ‘The Hangover: Part II’ than I did for ‘The Hangover’. But maybe because the humor is more extreme, raunchy, and disgusting this time around. Usually I’m not a big fan of gross humor, but ‘Part II’ handles its humor well enough to deserve some praise. There are many great, comedic set-ups in the film, but I wouldn’t call them clever. This film gets most of its laughs from shock-value and raunchiness than from wit.

What ‘Part II’ lacks in comparison to the first ‘Hangover’ is the freshness. The original ‘The Hangover’ was new, and the format was more unpredictable. Since the sequel’s structure is so much alike the original’s, it falters and feels more been-there-done-that. The misadventures the Wolfpack engage in the original ‘Hangover’ is a lot less toned down than in ‘Part II’, with smaller laughs but better character moments. The Wolfpack had raunchy, but innocent fun in the first film, and it benefited from this. In ‘Part II’, the characters enter darker territories, and even more outrageous and unbelievable situations. For example, when a character is shot by a mafia-member, or when a crime boss and an American FBI-like investigation is involved. All of this garner big laughs, but out of disbelief and bad taste.

This sequel self-references itself and the original ‘Hangover’ quite a lot, with sentences ending in “Again,” and the characters mentioning events from the previous film to ensure it doesn’t happen again. The self-references are definitely funny, and it makes the film more enjoyable because it makes us relive and remember the fun of the original film with the Wolfpack themselves. Though this self-reference can definitely be bothersome to some (and I thought I wouldn’t like it, judging from the trailer’s own self-references), for the most part they’re utilized well.

Though Zach Galifianakis’s character is the cause for many of the film’s laughs, the character himself is a bit of a mixed bag. Alan is still the “man-child” character he was in the first film, but this time around he’s more aggressive and mean to other characters. Sometimes this is funny, but other times it’s just off-putting.

Ed Helms (‘The Office’) and Bradley Cooper (‘Limitless‘) are just as great in ‘Part II’ as they were in the original, if not better. The chemistry between the two of them is great in ‘The Hangover: Part II’, and they genuinely feel like best friends.

Even though ‘The Hangover: Part II’ is literally a beat-for-beat copy of the first film, it has lots of big laughs, which is what makes it a great comedy. I’m hoping that, for ‘The Hangover: Part III’ (You know it’s only a matter of time, and ‘Part II’ will definitely do well at the box-office), director Todd Phillips changes up the format more. A smart move would be to include Doug in the Wolfpack’s misadventures. Sure, Doug is more of the straight-man compared to the other men in the group, but he’s still considered a best friend to the others, and adding him into the mix with Alan, Stu, and Phil would definitely add an interesting dynamic to the already predictable and familiar format that is ‘The Hangover’ films.

PS: Don’t forget about the other great summer comedy film out right now, ‘Bridesmaids‘!

Three and a half out of four Kents.