The Hangover Part II (the movie)

Looks like the Hangover Part II smashed all kinds of attendance records. For the record, I’ll pass on seeing this since I had quite enough of the first installment of this series. Back on July 6, 2009, I posted this on the Gaia site. These words are as true now as they were then:

 

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I see movies like The Hangover for one reason only: To get a sense of what turns on We-the-People.

So I ended up seeing this flick about two weeks ago, and the theater was packed. This audience was stoked - they were rarin' to go. And this film did have some funny moments. But I had problems with it, so I'd have to disagree with film critic Roger Ebert when he wrote:

QUOTE:

Now this is what I'm talkin' about. The Hangover is a funny movie, flat out, all the way through. Its setup is funny. Every situation is funny. Most of the dialogue is funny almost line by line....There is never an explanation for the chicken.

:UNQUOTE.

I guess I'll start with the chicken

The chicken appeared early in the movie. Three guys wake up in their $4,200 per night Las Vegas suite, after an evening of bachelor-partying. They wake up and see their suite is trashed and they can't remember what happened last night and...there's a chicken strutting around the living room. Frankly, I found the presence of the chicken to be scarier than the tiger in the bathroom (Mike Tyson's tiger, no less).

I really hope Roger Ebert wasn't expecting "an explanation for the chicken." And, no, Roger, it wasn't so the guys could have a nice fresh omelet after an evening of debauchery. The chicken was there for sexual purposes. Frat boys and soldiers have joked about this type of thing for decades. So I think Ebert was being cute by noting a lack of explanation.

Yeah, I know: Sex with a chicken. That's downright revolting. But other aspects of this movie vied with the chicken for that honor.

The Basic Selling Point

Here's what turned on the audiences, nationwide I dare say:

These three guys weren't responsible for their actions, or at least two of them weren't. The third had spiked their drinks (and his own) with the date rape drug which, as everybody "knows," can lead to involuntary and irresponsible behavior. How cool is that? [I'll get to that in a moment.]

So they got to do all this cool, immoral stuff without being responsible or intentional. Problem is, they couldn't remember any of it. And they couldn't find their buddy - yes, there had actually been four of them; the one missing in action was the bridegroom (this was his bachelor party).

But what about before and after the spiking?

For the sake of argument, let's suppose it was way cool for these guys to be so doped up they could be (er) forgiven for going wild for one night. Let's even say it was okay for one of them to marry a stripper he and the guys picked up. [A quickie Vegas-style marriage and, yeah, she was cute - which makes it even more okay I guess.]

It wasn't okay that she had left her baby with these three passed-out clowns while she went home to her motel room. It wasn't okay that her husband, after getting an equally-quickie annulment from their marriage, decides he wants to see this woman again on a serious date. Is he out of his fricking mind!?

It wasn't okay that the guy who spiked the drinks wasn't severely chastised for doing so. If someone had slipped street drugs into my drink, I'd be majorly pissed. And this dude really thought Caesar lived in Caesar's Palace. I'm far from perfect, but (believe me) I wouldn't want a guy like that in my inner circle. Or even my outermost circle.

At the end of the movie, when these guys looked at pictures of their forgotten evening, the audience I was with was a hootin' and a hollerin'. I mean, strippers, man! These guys must have had one wild time, and the audience was vicariously getting off on their photos. If I had been one of these guys, I would have broken out in a sweat while feverishly trying to recall if I'd had unprotected sex with any of these babes. But, of course, not to worry ... right? Everybody knows Las Vegas hookers carry condoms everywhere they go. Goes without saying ...right?

I'd also worry if any of my buddies might have caught any weird diseases from being too intimate with that chicken. Lord knows, I'd never do any such thing - not even when roofied up. I mean, I eat chicken - but only in the most conventional way. But I suppose my buddies are thinking the same thing. But...fact is, we all woke up to see that chicken strutting. Strutting! - as if mocking us. And it was someone's bright idea to bring that chicken into our lair.

And that's another thing - that lair. Maybe it's my austere nature asserting itself here, but I can't imagine spending $4,200 for one evening's stay. But wait ... sure I can imagine - I can more than imagine. For the spectacle we got treated to was of four guys who had such low self-esteem, they simply had to spend their way out of it. Even if it was for only one night in their miserable lives.

Woud'a, could'a, should'a

If they wanted a truly memorable experience - one they couldn't possibly forget - they could have taken a much cheaper room and donated the difference to Smile Train. That's right, folks, step right up. Each $250 donation to Smile Train will repair a destitute child's cleft palate. There are some really sobering pix at http://www.smiletrain.org/  : These are the before-pictures.

So come on, you way cool guys, you can step up to the plate on this one. The after-pictures will burn a smile into your hearts you'll never forget.

As for Roger Ebert and similar socially-sanctioned icons

Ah, Roger [Ebert] and Me go back a ways - back to Aug. 28, 2007, when I blogged on his review of September Dawn. One of these days, I might repost that blog on this site, my prior site having gone out of business a year or so ago. I will strongly consider reposting if Mitt Romney or any other Mormon looks like he might snag the GOP nomination for president.

Roger had given Dawn zero stars, for which I properly blasted him. And he gave The Hangover three-and-a-half stars. And people listen to this guy! Why, I ask myself, is this so?

Roger is just one among many authority figures which corporate media find useful to foist on us. They're called opinion-shapers. I could never figure out why so many people buy into whatever it is that (say) a Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Steve Kroft ad nauseum have to say.

The first step in any meaningful revolution (oops, I meant to say "change we can believe in") is to make a conscious effort to repudiate these people. They speak not the truth and they aren't harmless. There are voices out there far worthier of your attention. But you do have to look for them. But guess what - you won't have to look really far at all.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

Founder of The Independent Contractors’ Party

"After a while you should realize - it's not just a movie, it's not just a movie." - Steve.

Contact me at: bpa_cinc@yahoo.com