Ebert has tweeted lately about his confusion over the excitement for the Hangover II. He loved the first one, but he points out that comedies can rarely ever have sequels that are as funny or fresh as the original. They either make the same jokes, or they try new things that don’t work as well.
So, what comedy sequels work well? Which ones are equal or better than the original?
I talked about this with my wife last night and we can only think of one that works well, and it is not technically a sequel. We adore Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, though we know most people think it is worse than the original. Again, not really a total comedy, but it mostly is.
Not quite sure if it counts but the theatrical “Get Smart- the Nude Bomb” was far inferior to the later TV movie of “Get Smart Again” which brought back more of the original cast.
Been a while since I’ve seen them but the later Hope/Crosby/Lamour “Road to…” movies are better than the first “Road to Singapore” The fourth one, “Road to Utopia” has the best ending.
I can see Ebert’s lack of enthusiasm for Hangover 2. It is clearly using the same template, with a missing person, and animal, waking up with some change (missing tooth>tattoo). It looks like the potential for recycling jokes is pretty high.
What they need to have done with #2 is to take that familiar pattern and twist it in unexpected ways. The are clearly upping the ante by replacing Vegas with Thailand (“Thighland”). Hopefully they used it in a way that is fresh, and not just Hangover 1 in Thailand.
I think it will be good, the trailer is funny and feels like just a taste of what is to come, rather than a collection of all the best jokes.
Have to disagree on both Austin Powers and Toy Story. Austin Powers 2 and 3 were both shit, since they spent more time trying to re-tell jokes from the original (and in 3’s case, re-tell the few original jokes from 2 which weren’t funny in the first place) than coming up with new concepts. THIS is what I’m afraid Hangover 2 is gonna be, and why it will blow hard.
As for Toy Story 2, I just thought it was really overrated, and I never cared for the Woody’s Friends storyline.
I’ve often heard it said that Addams Family Values was the first comedy sequel that greatly passed the original. I thought both of them were great though (the less said about the Tim Curry sequels, the better).
Not sure how many people will agree with me, but I think Clerk II was just as good as, if not better than Clerks. It helps that they jumped forward in time and the story/jokes were completely different. I can’t find it now, but I remember the very first preview of the movie was just Randall and Dante sitting in a car and talking about how comedy sequels suck because they just reuse all the jokes.
I have to disagree with Ghostbusters 2. While not terrible, it lost all the irreverence of the first one where they smoked, chased women (even that spectre BJ scene), and used real adult language (it’s true, this man has no dick). 2 was more for the families and the Hardee’s fast food tie-ins like the Slimer Shake.
It depends on how you define “worked” and the OP is a little ambiguous about it. If worked means watchable, I stand by Ghostbusters 2. You say yourself it’s not terrible. If worked means as good or better than the original, you’re probably right.