This time around director Todd Phillips and co-writers Craig Mazin and Scot Armstrong have the four Vegas buddies: Phil (Bradley Cooper), Alan (Zach Galifianakis), Stu (Ed Helms) and Doug (Justin Bartha) jetting off to Thailand for Stu’s wedding.

All is going smoothly and they quietly enjoy a beer and some marshmallows on the beach by a fire. The next day Phil, Alan and Stu wake up in a cockroach infested hotel in Bangkok with no memory of the previous night’s events and discover that Stu’s future brother in law, 16 year old Teddy (Mason Lee) is missing! Not only do they have to find Teddy they have to be back for Stu’s wedding the next day.

This one is much darker but is still packed with laughs. There are recycled gags from the first film: instead of the boys being left with a baby, here they have a mischievous monkey, instead of losing the groom they lose Teddy, instead of Stu pulling a tooth out this time he has a tattoo on his face. Of course there are strippers and criminals and old friend Mr Chow (Ken Jeong) thrown into the mix.

I could not help but think that the people behind it were too afraid to go out on a limb and deviate from the formula of the original: Put our three main characters in jeopardy, then let them play detective as they try to put the pieces back before a race against time to get the groom to his wedding. Of course it still works and its fun, but I could not help thinking this is basically more of the same but in a different more exotic location.

This one does have a few gems, particularly when there is an imaginative sequence that takes us into the mind and perspective of Alan which is both humorous and explains why he is like he is. The scripting is sharp and the chemistry between the leads is convincing. The reason this sequel works is because the audience feels we know these people and we can’t help but like them.

Before the film began there were plenty of trailers advertising upcoming films exactly like this one but with slight variations: a group of women planning a hen do, a group of male workers planning to bump off their bosses etc. Todd Phillips has started a new genre: the ensemble dark comedy that centres on the everyman (or woman). All fine, but in this environment sorting the wheat from the chaff will become harder and I hope studios don’t become lazy churning out an endless stream of sub-Hangover wannabes. With this in mind it is perhaps time to call a halt on this series while they are still ahead as it would be tragic to see The Hangover ending up as a pale parody of itself.

Fans of the first film will thoroughly enjoy this with its references and in jokes as well as the usually chaotic ride. Like Stu says ‘I have this demon inside of me.’ Well let’s hope that demon is now exorcised as a second sequel maybe one too far.