First teaser for 'The Hangover Part II' fails to impress

Posted Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 4:22 PM Central

by John Couture

I know, I know. A teaser trailer is simply meant to "tease" and give you a quick first look at a movie, but is it wrong to wish for some substance?

How about just one joke?

As you know The Hangover was the surprise break out comedy hit of 2009 and the highly anticipated sequel has been locked down tighter than Fort Knox. Well, not today's Fort Knox. I mean right now, it's just a museum or a front for alien research. But back when Fort Knox still held the lion's share of our nation's gold.

All we know for sure is that Wolf Pack is back at it. This time, the four travel to Thailand for Stu's wedding and, predictably, another night of hilarity ensues.

From the teaser trailer, we pretty much get two things. First, that Doug (Justin Bartha) has been misplaced once again. Second, the baby from the first movie has been replaced by a monkey in a Rolling Stones denim jacket and cargo pants that most assuredly were bought at the Baby Gap.

That's it. No jokes. And barely any dialog.

Sure, you can read between the lines of the bald, yet still bearded, Zach Galifianakis and come to some sort of Buddhist conversion gag. But not a single joke.

For a comedy that needs to hit a grand slam in order to overcome the monster expectations that are on it after the first movie, this isn't a very encouraging first at bat.

(Spring training games start tomorrow, so please forgive all the baseball metaphors).

If this same trailer had debuted last Summer, then fine I could live with such a flaccid teaser. But, The Hangover Part II hits theaters in just over three months on May 26.

By now, we should be seeing a lot more. I'll be honest, this one might have flop written all over it. Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think.