What Is Funny?

Last week, I went to the premiere of the Hangover II. Yes, that is a pretty big deal. Yes, I am a pretty big deal.  Did I see many celebs? Indeed (more on that).

As for the movie, as many are now discovering, it is pretty-much an exact copy of the first, which is understandably disappointing for people.  If you didn’t like Hangover the First, than you will hate Hangover the Second. If you liked Hangover the First, you will like Hangover the Second, but less (how much less, depending on your tolerance for watching the same movie again).  The word “again” is used a lot in this movie as in, “You’ll never guess what happened again.” “Can you believe this is happening again?” Some of us in the audience could not.

But while the movie isn’t really successful, there is something kind-of daring and original about making a movie that follows so faithfully the form of the first. I mean, down to the beat–take whatever happened in Hangover I, make a slight substitution, you have Hangover II. It’s like the movie was written using the search/replace function of Word. There could be some joy in this–we know exactly what the movie will do and when–the surprise is in the how.  This is the same principle that allows us to be dazzled by romantic comedies and sonnets alike–we understand the form is set, but the execution is where the pleasure happens.  So that’s really my complaint about HII–not that it follows the exact same form as HI, but that the execution is less surprising.  A baby is more interesting than a monkey. A missing tooth more mysterious than a face tattoo. A vegas stripper slightly less cliche than a Thai one.  To my mind, the real, amazingly bold thing, would be to make a third Hangover and use the exact same form again.  I can hear the lines in the movie now: “It happened again…again.”

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As for the celeb sightings at the after party, there were many. Robert Downy Jr. Toby Maguire. The cast of the movie of course, including Mike Tyson. Sean Combs. Others.  But the highlight was this:  Eli Manning, QB of the NY Giants, walking around slightly akwardly in a strange blue tux, looking like a waiter.  He was hanging out with snowboarder/Olympic gold medal winner Shaun White.

In the sports world, Eli is no slouch. He has a SuperBowl trophy to his name and a pretty well-known last name. In the celeb world it doesn’t quite carry over as throughout the night, people were coming up and asking Eli if he wouldn’t mind taking a picture, not with, but of them. With Shaun. So there was Super Bowl MVP Eli trying to adjust the zoom on some dude’s camera as he snapped pic after pick of Shaun and his adoring fans.

Later, I spotted Eli hovering around the table with the crab cakes, seemingly a bit uncertain if he could/should take one. I decided to set the example so went over and put a few on my plate. I smiled at Eli as if to say, “It’s okay buddy–no one wants to have their picture taken with me either.”