Happy Death Day 2U

Blumhouse Productions has adopted quite a strong business model for the 2010s that has allowed them to make easy profit. Their practice is to produce films on a small budget while giving the directors creative freedom (basically like saying "here's $5, make something good, and make sure I get my money back"). They have numerous projects released each year with quality that ranges from embarrassingly bad to surprisingly good. One of the latter was Happy Death Day (2017), a horror-comedy slasher with a silly spirit that has an appeal that the teen demographic and above would like (I did a review of the film when it came out so you can check out my thoughts on it there). This brings us to its sequel with Happy Death Day 2U, which was written and directed by Christopher Landon (who directed the predecessor). The marketing campaign looked fascinating with how crazy the shenanigans might get. I went into the auditorium ready to see how silly/fun compared it can be compared to the first film and left it happy with the experience but unable to ignore its more noticeable issues.

What's it about? Taking place immediately after the predecessor, the story follows our protagonist as she finds herself living through a series of events in different science related circumstances. If there's anything to commend this sequel for, it's taking risks by shifting gears into the sci-fi (but still with minor elements of a slasher). It feels like a PG-13 version of a Rick and Morty episode considering how wacky or cringe the humor can get. The best way to look at this would be a condensed version of "Science fiction for beginners (or tweens)" with how it explains the concepts it's utilizing. It's still entertaining in how it's not taking itself very seriously with the premise (to the point where even the self-awareness factor has increased). Having the knowledge of the previous adventure is important here since there's enough relevant information to keep in mind to the situation that happens here.

However, there are some drawbacks with this sequel that can't be ignored. The jokes are more noticeably hit-or-miss in their executions that it affects the pacing and momentum of certain scenes. It relies of using its familiar story formula that its a little tough to get some excitement. In fact, elements from the structure are somewhat lackluster, notably in the third act where it becomes sloppy. For those of you expecting the horror element to occur here since there's a slasher involved should look elsewhere because it's completely removed here. While it's solid with how ambitious it gets, the script has a limit before it loses control and trips hard in third act.

How's Jessica Rothe? In regards to the main protagonist Theresa "Tree" Gelbman, Jessica's performance is still the strong anchor that fills this crazy film with excitement. She does a great job in conveying how much her character is adapting to new changes that add onto her experiences from before. The way she displays the struggle in a choice she comes across halfway through adds something new to this flick. Her charisma and interactions with the rest of the cast is pretty delightful to watch with how much comedy it adds.

How's everyone else? In regards to the cast of supporting players, the MVPs to look out for are Carter (Israel Brousard), Ryan (Phi Vu), and Danielle (Rachelle Matthews). These actors provide good doses of humor with their quirks that are managed well. The former two are the best suited in regards to plot importance and affect the story in solid ways that are true to their characters. The latter  third comes close to being hit-or-miss but embraces the silly tone that almost helps save a scene in the third act from being cringeworthy. An honorable mention goes to Julie Gelbman (Missy Yager) for sharing a heartfelt scene or two with the main character. A dishonorable mention goes to Dean Bronson (Steve Zissis) for his bad attempts at being funny.

Overall Consensus: Happy Death Day 2U is an entertaining sequel that delivers with charismatic lead performance, an ambitious concept risk, and light-hearted tone, but suffers from hit or miss humor and sloppy third act. ⭑⭑⭑3/4🎟🍿 Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes PG-13

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You have seen the first film and want to see how the sequel is handled. You enjoy light-hearted science fiction comedies.

Reasons to avoid it: You dislike any of the aforementioned actors. You have seen the first film and don't like that style. You hate light-hearted science fiction comedies