It’s amazing what one film can do for a career. When The Hangover was released in 2009, its three main stars were virtually unknowns; with the release of the film’s sequel, although not quite global household names, Bradley Cooper (The A-Team), Zach Galianakis (Due Date) and Ed Helms (Cedar Rapids) have all made huge leaps up the Hollywood ladder.

The first film’s success guaranteed a sequel almost on its domestic takings during its first weekend release alone; it also virtually guaranteed, along with its subsequent success in the home DVD markets, that this will be a home run at the box office too. But is another Hangover just one too many?

Despite getting married to Jade (Heather Graham) in the first film, Stu (Helms) has moved on and found a new love in his life – Lauren (Jamie Young). As her family live in Thailand, they’ve decided to have their wedding there, and all the gang are invited; yes even Alan (Galianakis), eventually.

Learning from his mistakes, Stu decides to hold a bachelor party at a family restaurant; as it turns out it’s more a bachelor brunch than a party, with no alcohol and definitely no strippers.

When they reach Thailand however, Stu is persuaded by his pals to have a few drinks by a campfire, inside the hotel complex. He agrees, after all, what could possibly go wrong?

The next day, Stu, Alan and Phil (Cooper) wake up in a real mess in a cheap and nasty hotel room. Once again, they have no idea of how they got there, or even where ‘there’ is. But with the help of a tattoo, a monkey and a human finger, they begin to retrace their steps to uncover what exactly did happen in the last twelve hours, wherever the hell they are.

Looking around at all these poor people and stuff really makes me look forward to getting back to our simple 5 star hotel.

This plot will sound eerily familiar to anyone who saw the first film. This is hardly surprising as director and writer Todd Phillips has stuck rigidly to the winning formula of the first. Plot-wise there will be a sense of déjà vu for audiences; bad things happen to this trio where weddings are concerned.

What you get with this sequel is a comfortable and warm familiarity with the characters; we know exactly what to expect this time round and we’re not disappointed. The film also benefits from the new exotic locale; Vegas has been done to death on film, so it’s a refreshing change to have a comedy rather than some kind of Bond film set in this kind of location.

As before, the main key to all of the comedy is Galianakis’ role as Alan; it’s his unpredictability and edginess that keeps audiences guessing as to what he’s going to do next, and most of the time there’s a laugh or two as a result.

And although the story may not have much in the way of surprises, the script is tight and delivers on the laughs, quite possibly a little more than its predecessor.

The Hangover II is undoubtedly just more of the same – which it clearly doesn’t apologise for – and yet still provides enough guilt-free humour to make the journey to Thailand a worthwhile one.