Nobody expected The Hangover, a film about three friends and Zach Galifianakis going to Las Vegas, Nev., for a bachelor party and losing the groom, would be as funny or as successful as it was.

Likewise, nobody expected the recently released sequel would be as much of a letdown as it was — albeit a funny letdown.

The Hangover Part 2 finds Doug (Justin Bartha), Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) going to Thailand to attend Stu's (Ed Helms) wedding. This time around, the guys lose Stu's future brother-in-law in Bangkok and must (surprise, surprise) go on a quest through Bangkok to find him.

Overall, this movie isn't awful — on the contrary, it's actually quite funny — but it was somewhat of a letdown. I'm not sure what I expected of the sequel, but I didn't expect the exact same plot, transplanted in Thailand, with a monkey instead of a baby and no Heather Graham.

What struck me most was the film's shock humor, which was both flat and unsettling. In fact, I found I laughed more during a high-definition broadcast of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest at the Lensic than during The Hangover Part 2 — and Wilde didn't need a monkey or full frontal nudity.

David J. Salazar is a senior at Santa Fe High School. You can reach him at davidjsalazar@gmail.com.