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The Wolf Sack reports from a La Mesa, Ca Test Screening of THE HANGOVER, PART 2... "It Absolutely Fucking Rocked."
Hey folks, Harry here... still recouping, but man... I'd have loved to have been in La Mesa, CA for this Test Screening of THE HANGOVER Part 2. I was incredibly late on covering the first film. Seemed that everyone in the world saw it before me. Life conspired against me, and when I finally saw it - two weeks after release in Las Vegas with Yoko... I suddenly got why everyone fell in love. The original film was the shit. Now - I have to admit, when I got the following report from the film, I was terrified of massive spoilers... finding out about every cameo... a ton of gags ruined, but luckily this scoopster, decided to be considerate about how he'd write about the film. Making sure that we would be teased, but not spoiled. That tends to be my favorite type of early preview reviews.
Hey! So I live in La Mesa, CA which is just outside of San Diego. Last week my friend and I were approached and asked if we'd like to attend a free screening of a "new comedy coming out later this year". We don't get a lot of screenings out here so we were kind of psyched. We asked who was in it? The woman inviting us had no clue. She genuinely didn't know. We were just hoping this wasn't going to be some Rob Schnieder Shit Show.
We show up to the theater on Thursday night and there was a pretty big line. Everyone was holding their blue invitations but no one knew what the movie was. They were asking questions to certain people on line and then pulling them off line. It was pretty funny. We looked around and saw no one in suits (outside of the security guards) and figured this must not be a big studio movie.
When we finally got in to the theater the guy comes out and tells us that he has good news and bad news. The good news was that the movie we were about to see was THE HANGOVER PART 2. Everyone went crazy! Loud hooting and hollering!! I looked around and saw Todd Phillips standing on the side of the theater, alone. There were no studio guys around him. It was actually kind of weird. By the way, the bad news was that we couldn't tell anyone we saw it! (whoops). We were sworn to secrecy as apparently they had just finished filming the movie and this was the VERY FIRST PUBLIC SCREENING.
Anyway, on to the movie. IT ABSOLUTELY FUCKING ROCKED.
It is similar to the first one in some ways, except it totally ups the insanity level. It is seriously one of the most fucked up studio comedies to ever be made. I am not even sure how much of what we saw will actually be in the ultimate release, because some of it seemed just too crazy.
It opens in a similar way, Phil makes a call, he's on the roof of a skyscraper. Says we fucked up. Apologizes. The crowd went crazy. And then it cuts to a week earlier where we learn that Stew is getting married to a new girl, her parents are from Thailand and the wedding is at some resort over there. Stew is still "emotionally scarred" from what happened 2 years ago in Vegas. Alan (Zack Galafinakis) is not invited to the wedding and is really upset about it. Phil and Doug end up convincing Stew to invite him.
The truth is I don't want to spoil what happens over there. Here is what I will say. The guys (and there wives) go to some beautiful Thailand resort. The guys make a toast and Phil, Stew and Alan wake up in Bangkok the next morning. More fucked up and more fucked over than you can imagine. And just to put all the rumors to rest: THEY DO NOT LOSE DOUG. He is safe and sound back at the resort. But, like the first one, they don't remember what happened. Also like the first one, it ends up all making sense.
But before it ties up, the guys get put through some pretty unbelievable shit. The highlights for me: 1. A drug dealing monkey who smokes cigarettes. 2. Mr. Chow is back and better than ever. 3. A car chase through Bangkok. 4. Stew and his dark side are revealed through a beautiful girl they met the night before. 5. Alan's fucked up flashback. I'm being vague on purpose, you will thank me later.
The crowd I saw it with were going crazy. I kept looking over at Todd Phillips who was by himself sitting on the floor in the aisle. He was watching the audience and never really looked up at the screen. He must have been pretty happy with how it played. It was definitely an early cut, there were some slow parts and some things that seemed "unfinished" but overall I loved it. On the way out my friend and I were discussing if it was actually better than the first one. He thought it was. I thought it was close but probably the first one. The audience seemed to like this better than the audience I saw the first one with, but maybe that was just because we were the first to see it and we didn't know what movie to expect.
Oh, and one other thing. They have photos at the end. You may want to stick around. EPIC.
If you use this just call me THE WOLF'S SACK.
Readers Talkback
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The first film was great
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Mainly spoiler free Test Screening review of THE HANGOVER PART 2... it's just enough to get me ridiculously excited
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Feb. 26, 2011, 5:41 p.m. CST
I didn't liek the teaser, I hope this guy turns out right
by IndustryKiller!
I mean I'm seeing it no matter what, but they literally could not mine ANYTHING funny or new for the teaser. Yeah yeah it's just announcing the film but shit.
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Harry, is it REALLY that good? Please don't let me be disappointed...
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Yeah, I love them. I read them. I enjoy them. But do I trust early reviews? I'm afraid not. Think about how wild and amazing Hot Tub Time Machine and Due Date were going to be. But when they were released, the public response was pretty lukewarm. I don't know. I'll see The Hangover: Part II. But to me, the sequel sounds like a remake of the first movie.
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Never made it work with Heather Graham???
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Do you think the carpet will match the drapes?
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Feb. 26, 2011, 6 p.m. CST
Why do they even bother to tell the people they can't discuss the film
by TheSeeker7
After all this time, they KNOW that it's gotta be widely posted online a mere handful of hours after the screening's done, and hell at this point, I'm sure studios actually COUNT on that buzz as part of the build up to release.
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Why? It's been like that for a couple of weeks now.
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Harry, 9 years ago (yes it was really 9 years) you were secretly holed up in a room where you watched Attack of the Clones before anyone in the world. Did you ever divulge in who your secret hosts were? If not, are you ever going to tell? I just remember seeing you on the news up here in DFW talking about how you saw the movie first (3 months before anyone) I was just curious.
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...I won't see 'til it hits DVD. :)
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I'll wait for the REAL first review of this movie; not one written by Mr. Planty McStudio. Next time you're going to write one of these items, genius, try to: a) minimize the ALL CAPS SENTENCES b) minimize the exclamation marks!!!!, and c) don't mention that you didn't think any 'suits' were in the audience. Whatever happened to unbiased criticism for film reviews, anyway?
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...I smelled rubbery green leaves the moment he said, "whoops." I was then looking for the part where he talks about two 15-year old kids chest bumping outside the theater.
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P L A N T !
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This "review" is the plantiest plant that ever planted a fucking plant! It reads like a fucking press release! "Craziest comedy ever to come out of a studio". "The crowd went crazy for it" ."They liked it better than the audience I saw the first one with". "We debated whether or not it was better than the first". Has anyone heard a rumor that they lose Doug? Yeah, me neither. Sounds like a studio trying to derail a rumor they heard that nobody else did.
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Count me out - I'm not seeing it.
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Planting the plant
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FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU
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I wasn't planning on seeing this, and hoped to simply experience the weirdness vicariously by just reading it here. Too bad there's nothing in this review that you wouldn't find outside of your ordinary tight-lipped movie review. I won't even have enough interest to look this up on wikipedia after it's out, so as far as I'm concerned, the movie is dead to me.
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Please tell me it can't. PLEASE!
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I hope they eat bugs from the Bug vendor at nana plaza. I will see if I can find where the movies were shot and post photos.
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I didn't get this movie, the funny stuff happened during the closing credits where it showed what happened to the guys that night, the film itself, eeeh, hardly funny except for the naked Asian man leaping out of the trunk, maybe this time the film makers will get it right and show us the "Funny" and not the needless exposition of the "next day" what did we do? Oops, our bad, let's make it right, apology, apology, Ughhhh, sad cinema.
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Feb. 26, 2011, 8:24 p.m. CST
So what extremely unexpected crazy has-been cameo is gonna be in this one?
by Andy Pandy
Charlie Sheen, David Hasselhoff? It's a studio cliche
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Feb. 26, 2011, 8:29 p.m. CST
I'm boycotting AICN until DRIVE ANGRY stops exploding all over my screen.
by Namssorg
Seriously. This full screen ad shit cannot stand. So say we all.
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They've been doing it since the figured out that sites like this exist, and we call them out every single time.
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and even I think this is a total plant job. Notice how he didn't namecheck Cooper or Helms. But here comes Alan and hey: (Zack Galafinakis) Which isn't even how you spell his fucking name, so maybe I'm wrong.
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Feb. 26, 2011, 9:02 p.m. CST
The trailer did nothing for me either. I don't buy this review for a second
by tamethecunt
too. Like the dude above stated: the funniest parts of the first one when in the credits. I don't know, maybe I"m getting too old for this shit. I"m 36.
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The lack of male nudity? Read jonasgrumby comments on The Hangover, somehow didn't find the movie funny until the Asian guy got naked. The end credits were only funny because of the set up from the entire movie. But Zack's penis is present in those scenes and he thinks they were the best part. So jonasgrumby just showed his in the closet cards. I don't exactly get the anticipation over this film. The first film was funny. People trying to debate this fact just look stupid or you're proving you have no friends because who wants to go out with the guy who doesn't want to go see The Hangover? My problem is with how everyone is focused on the early trailer and now this review... Who cares? It's a concept comedy. I get going crazy over Green Lantern, The Dark Knight Rises or some big action film. This is the sequel to a decently funny concept movie. Why does the sequel matter this much?
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Am I the only one who thought the first Hangover was WAY overrated? Give me a sequel to Superbad any day.
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could you guys be growing up??
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I shall remain sleepless until I receive an answer to this question...
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Like what... one of the dudes sodomizes a sheep while a baby plays speed bag on his nut sack? Anytime someone says something is "crazier than anything we've ever seen before" it means one of two things. Either: a) He's a studio plant, or b) He's 15 years old. Either way, his opinion means dick. Mark my words: This movie will be AWFUL. More animals, more doo doo, more screaming, and fewer genuine laughs. It's the basic rule of comedy sequels.
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Feb. 26, 2011, 10:49 p.m. CST
running around thailand looking for 15 year old hookers and opium
by kanye west
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I've had ACTUAL hangovers that were funnier than that shit movie. I remember seeing the trailer for it and hoping that I hadn't seen the whole movie already just by watching the trailer. Boy was I wrong... I thought it was insulting more than anything.. stupid and unfunny, I love Zach G but dude what a brutally shit movie.
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The Hangover is pretty overrated. It's fun but not laugh-out-loud hilarious. Due Date, however, had me laughing throughout and I can't believe it wasn't received very well. It is pretty dark, though.
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I've been drinking scotch, and I clicked on this link after seeing the "SPOILER" tag to find Harry say: "we would be teased, but not spoiled." And then have the author of the "scoop" say: "I'm being vague on purpose, you will thank me later." That is COMPLETELY incongruent to what "spoilers" are. Whatever. Its bonus to be able to complain about spoilers and say they were NOT strong enough to ruin a movie, so I'll refrain from going further. Its always nice to not know what's happening in a movie you're looking forward to. I just don't think this was "spoiler" worthy. Harry, what you think?
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The new talkback format is fucking terrible. Your "Post 0"'s are dumb and redundant and offer nothing in the way of *real* discussion/debate. I'd much rather hear your real thoughts and feelings on the subject (not mentioned in the story) than see you repeat the same shit in a banal way just to keep people from posting "First". Its useless! Engage in a REAL way, not superficially, Harry!
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instead of being a bunch of bitchy crybabies why don't you guys just get adblock plus? I haven't seen an ad (here, facebook, mma sites) for months. That drive-angry shit sounds terrible though the way you guys are complaining about it. Sherdog is notorious for that fullscreen crap... of the sidebars, my god the sidebars! Being careful not to click anywhere (for fear of ad popup) used to be a nightmare there. Adblock is the cat's pajamas.
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You're never too young to drink scotch. I had my first Godfather when i was 3. Tried to drink a Rusty Nail at 4 but i'd been a Godfather man for 25% of my life at that point so I just stuck with.
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I just expected real spoilers, not "So and so had a wedding and didnt' invite so and so! Mr. Guy from the first one is back! So is you know who! And there's a CAR CHASE! Wooohah! CRAZY, right? Such an insane, spoilerish time!" Hah. Anyway, as for spoilers, I started young. I blame the woman who was 10 yrs older when she practically took my virginity away.
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Not "Anyway, as for spoilers..." Meant scotch.
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... he recognised Todd Philips when he saw him? Really? Would anyone here recognise Todd Philips if you saw him in the street?</p> </p> Me neither.
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he's actually in his fucking movies. he's the goddamn guy that's here for the gangbang. of course you'd recognize him.
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Todd Philips has been in ALL his movies; I'm pretty sure a movie geek would recognize him.
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Feb. 27, 2011, 3:53 a.m. CST
I was at a Caddyshack II test screening in Pasadena, CA back in 1988...
by fustfick
...the theater was packed and the audience was ROARING with laughter from beginning to end. It's the first time I recall missing dialogue in a movie because of the audience laughing so much. Afterwords my friend and I (we were in junior high) both thought it was better than the original Caddyshack. Seriously. So when it opened nationally a couple of months later, I eagerly went to see it again...and hated it. It was the same movie, nothing had changed. But the chuckles were absent along with the likely "arranged" audience of laughing studio plants. My friend and I had fallen victim to mass hysteria. And Caddyshack II sucked.
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Good to hear Leslie Chow is back!
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His screen name is one letter off from the catchphrase in the teaser. Please.
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Feb. 27, 2011, 5:38 a.m. CST
"I saw Todd Philips"..really? 'cause I don't know what the fuck he looks like.
by The_Dark_Shite
On account of being a normal person.
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It'd be one thing if Gibson was blacklisted for one stupid drunken comment. For example, I can give Michael Richards a pass because I can believe that his tirade wasn't motivated by actual racism so much as a desire to find the worst possible insult to hurl at a heckler (because frankly he's a terrible stand-up comedian and clearly had no idea how to deal with such situations). But Gibson had a history of bigoted comments, and this was a "last straw" kind of thing.
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Feb. 27, 2011, 7:45 a.m. CST
Bangkok the most appropriately named city in the world
by Miyamoto_Musashi
Phuket if pronounced differently is up there as well
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Fustfick, what you are referring to is "Austin Powers 2" syndrome. Everyone discovered Austin Powers on video, and was insanely pumped for the sequel. The theater I was in was in an uproar with laughter. Wait til 3 months later, and the "Theres no WAY this isnt going to be hilarious!!" hype died down, and you realize: Austin Powers 2 isnt funny. People just WANTED it to be funny so badly that there was no way you werent going to laugh. Honestly, I thought the trailer for the first Hangover sucked balls. Finally, after a month of hearing how funny it was, I finally caved and saw it. Not funny. I didnt even chuckle once from the "Wolfpack" speech on. I think the showing was actually at the tail end of the "Hangover is AWESOME" syndrome, because no one was really laughing that much. The Tyson scene was dead silent. The painfully awful tiger song, you could have heard a pin drop. Oh, and this review is a total plant.
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I'm a scotch guy.
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And Zack Galafucknuts has the audacity to blackball Mel for racism? Oh the irony. Also, this review is steeped in chlorophyll. Next time don't be so obvious.
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My apologies to everyone for those ill-thought out rants.
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I was drinking some Laphroaig. It was a souvenir I picked up from the first real movie I worked on the props department 6 years ago. I meant to keep it, but my gf accidentally opened it a few weeks ago. I figured I better not let it go to waste! Its good stuff too.
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At least not in theaters. I wait til it's on HBO or something maybe. But even if this a real review, which it isn't, it means that theater is gonna be 10 lbs of doucebag in a 5 lb bag, all doing shots of the Petron they snuck in while they fist pump and "whoooo! Dog, that was sweet! SNAP!" -for the sake of it- that no one I can even hear the movie, but that won't matter because it won't even be that funny, these guys are just blindly obeying the oversaturation of ads that will surely have been shoved down our throats for weeks. Other than that it should be hilarious, right? Can't think of a thing that could be wrong with it.
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You do not tease this movie-goer with promises of Gibson and then retract the Gibson. I couldn't care less if he eats shit while drooling off camera. All of your favorite actors are homosexual like Daniel Craig. At least Mel is a man who DESERVES A WOMAN!!!
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Seriously.
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Not sure yet about this one. Either going to be really good or really bad. Hoping its the first one but im going to see it in theaters anyways.
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". he recognised Todd Philips when he saw him? Really? Would anyone here recognise Todd Philips if you saw him in the street?" Dude, you're dead on. Usually, I'm the last one to claim someone is a plant, but something just didn't sit well with me regarding this review. happyfat73 hit the nail on the head I think. Dead on. I consider myself a pretty big movie buff and even I wouldn't be able to spot Todd Philips on the street if he walked up and slapped me.
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anyone can recognise todd phillips, hes always in his own movies and usually plays a part weird guy cameo
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Later, once this film is out and the larger scale reviews are in, we'll know if this is a worthy sequel. Of course, this group had great chemistry too. Hell, one could just as easily reassemble the cast with a new story, but Hollywood loves its sequels.
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it makes sense that you would think the hangover was high comedy too. i love zach galifinakis but he is funnier in the worst tim and eric sketch than in that movie. the only part that really made me laugh was the shot where the camera was strapped to ed helm's chest like it was an episode of mtv's fear. all those shock value gags and male nude scenes that are supposed to pass for comedy nowadays just don't amuse me at all. call me a grump if you want, it's just too fucking easy. i mean, i could get up on a stage in front of 500 people nightly and pull down my pants, revealling my pale out-of-shape ass... everybody would sure as fuck laugh but would that make me a world-class comedian? actually... fuck my principles, that sounds like a good career path. later guys. i'll see you on the silver screen.
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PLANT! PLANT... PLANTY MCPLANTERSON
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I saw the movie, and thought it was funny, but I did not understand what all the hype was about. It made me laugh, but it wasn't the funniest movie ever, as some told me. I think a big par of the impact of that movie was that it didn't have any big stars in it, and so it surprised people that it was funny. Austin Powers 2 was funny. Austin Powers 3 is the one that sucked. And that reminds me. Why is Stu not with Heather Graham? C'mon, I don't care if it's not all that realistic! I can't get over my HG crush. There are few people who have ever been so hot on screen as Heather in Austin Powers 2.
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For that matter, watered down Dewar's > The Hangover.
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Is using the energy of sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into complex organic compounds, and giving off oxygen as a by-product.
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Anyone claiming this is a plant is out of their god-damned mind. If there was ONE movie coming out that was entirely critic proof and in absolutely no need of a planted review, it's HANGOVER 2. The first film is the highest grossing R-rated comedy in the HISTORY OF CINEMA. No one is planting reviews anywhere for the sequel. Idiots.
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the ending of the hangover was the dumbest of about 1800 possible endings i could've come up with for that movie in about 10 minutes of brainstorming. actually i probably would have dismissed that ending as being too utterly infantile and disappointing considering how good the rest of the movie was.
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Feb. 28, 2011, 2:12 p.m. CST
bizarrojerry, you're going to love The Choppah's own plot idea for Hangover 2:
by THE_CHOPPAH
So, Ed Helms character has moved to Vegas and is going to marry Heather Graham. The rest of the guys gather in Vegas for the wedding the night before and they plan on having a bachelor party. Meanwhile, Graham's baby daddy is also in town and he wants to hang out with Helms and get to know him since they will both be in the child's life. Only Baby Daddy has an ulterior motive: to sabotage Helms' and Graham's wedding. So, during the bachelor party he drugs Helms and his buddies and the morning after Helms learns that he lost the baby and he and the others need to piece the night together in order to find the baby. (Only the baby isn't really lost he is being held by the Baby Daddy.)
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Feb. 28, 2011, 2:33 p.m. CST
slone if HO2 is so "critic proof" then why do they need to do a test screening?
by THE_CHOPPAH
And if they find it necessary to do test screenings why is it so hard to believe that they wouldn't plant stories. I call 'Plantage.'
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Feb. 28, 2011, 2:36 p.m. CST
An as for evidence this is a plant look no further than: "It Absolutely Fucking Rocked."
by THE_CHOPPAH
Who says stuff like that except some studio douchebag trying to say something he thinks sounds like what a hipster would say.
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Almost every movie does test screenings. Please don't chop me.
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The one where they said they would have a certain (spoiler) ex president. Qui-Gonn Jinn has already confirmed he filmed his spot.....maybe Charlie Sheen is in this too?
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Has anyone ever been one or known one somewhat personally? I was just wondering what the history is (i.e. when studios first started it, if it continues, the compensation for said plants). I've only been to a couple of show tapings, I remember when I was around nine and I went with my dad and his girlfriend to see a taping for this pilot called Like Cats and Dogs or something like that. We went because my dad and his girlfriend liked Buffy and Angel a lot, and Charisma Carpenter was the star of this partiqular pilot. Unfortunately it wasn't picked up, but I didn't think at that taping or the others that I have been to had plants, or maybe they're just for movies and not shows? Anyway the crowd seemed to have a good time, but then again there was a large amount of Buffy/Angel fans and they just seemed happy to be there to support Charisma Carpenter.
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as did everyone else I know. I don't know where this overrated stuff comes from. If you didn't like it you obviously have a different sense of humour. Just because YOU personally didn't find it that funny doesn't mean it wasn't.
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I frankly don't get the hype. It was just stupid. I can barely remember any of it. There was a tiger and a guy missing a tooth and the most racist asian character since Jerry Lewis' Hardly Working.
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First of all it doesn't surprise me that you didn't appreciate Austin Powers. Second, Austin Powers was not a rip-off of James Bond (that would be the Bourne movies), it was a parody. Do you understand what a parody is? The Austin Powers films, at least the first two, were probably the best spoofs of James Bond in the history of film and there have been many including Our Man Flint and The Nude Bomb. And any true Bond fan can appreciate Mike Meyer's hilarious take on the English spy. And no one is a bigger Bond fan than The Choppah!
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Sick of being forced to look at schlongs in stupid hollywood comedies. Whens Melancholia coming out? Full frontal Dunst = yes.
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