The Wolfpack travels to Bangkok

MANILA, Philippines - In The Hangover, the Las Vegas shenanigans of the Wolfpack — Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms and Justin Bartha — stayed in Vegas. This time, in The Hangover Part II, the gang travels to exotic Thailand for a bachelor party that is supposed to be subdued and safe. However, things don’t always go as planned.

The Hangover was released in 2009 and took the world by storm — becoming the highest-grossing R-Rated comedy of all time and winning the Golden Globe for Best Picture-Musical or Comedy. Though the laughs were nonstop, it was not just the jokes that made it so appealing; it was a group of actors who were believable as friends and whose chemistry onscreen just clicked.

“It sounds corny, but it’s kind of a dream situation to work on a movie that is a genuine comedy and going to work with people you like,” says Galifianakis. “It’s really, really cool.”

All involved were thrilled that the first movie connected with audiences around the globe. “I think physical comedy is pretty universal,” Galifianakis posits. “Also, you’re pulling for these guys. In spite of everything they go through, they’re really just trying to have a good time. That’s the common theme in these movies.”

“And, also, the hook of the movie is that it’s a kind of a whodunnit mystery,” Bradley adds. “So, there’s not just a bunch of comedy set pieces. It’s a movie that has a real engine. If you took all the comedy out, it could play as a thriller. It’s sort of hitting on those two marks.”

In The Hangover Part II, the characters follow the same trajectory as on their last adventure, but this time they’re in the exotic international city of Bangkok, Thailand. “(Director) Todd Phillips first became inspired by thinking of where they could go next,” says producer Dan Goldberg. “And every time you said Bangkok, for whatever reason, people would go, ‘Wow, that’s great.’ So, Todd and his co-writers, Craig Mazin and Scot Armstrong, did a ton of research on the real Bangkok and a story started to take shape that was different but definitely in the spirit of the first film.”

“To me, location is one of the movie’s main characters,” Phillips attests. “Vegas was such a big part of the first one and, for this one, it was really about finding a city or a place where when you say the word it means something.”

 Opening soon in theaters, The Hangover Part II is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.