Happy Death Day 2U

Starring: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Phi Vu, Suraj Sharma, Sarah Yarkin, Rachel Matthews, Ruby Modine

Director: Christopher Landon

Spoilers from Happy Death Day and minor spoilers for Happy Death Day 2U to follow.

Tre (Jessica Rothe), has survived her Groundhog Day inspired loop, where she was forced to relive the same day over and over, during which she is killed by a psychopath wearing a baby mask. After figuring out that her roommate Lori (Ruby Modine) was the one behind the baby mask, Tre learned to become a better person, and was able to finally survive to the next day and be with Carter (Israel Broussard). Or so she thinks, as now Carter's roommate Ryan (Phi Vu) finds himself in the same type of loop as Tre and is being chased by a similar killer in a baby mask. It turns out Ryan, along with cohorts Samar (Suraj Sharma) and Dre (Sarah Yarkin), have created a science project which was responsible for both Tre and now his loops. After the college's Dean tries to shut down Ryan's project, the device goes off and Tre finds herself back in the loop she just escaped. While she is still being chased by a baby masked killer, there are little changes such as Lori not being the one behind the mask this time and Carter dating Tre's sorority sister and friend, Danielle (Rachel Matthews). It turns out Ryan's device opened the quantum realm and Tre is now living the life of a Tre from another realm. While Tre originally wants to go back to her realm, she soon discovers one change that makes her rethink whether she wants to leave or not.

Believe it or not, I've really only described the first 20 minutes or so of the film, which goes out of its way to be incredibly convoluted now that it has added much more of a sci-fi angle. The wisest thing the script does is introduce an emotional element to keep Tre wanting to stay in her new realm. Without revealing what it is, the script really works in these moments and gives the movie more weight than it probably deserves. The rest of the film, which revolves around Tre trying to find a new way back to her realm or discovering the new identity of her killer, while silly, doesn't work nearly as well and becomes ridiculous to the point that I stopped caring. The fun of the first one really got lost in this version.

Jessica Rothe continues to be very impressive in the role. She is clearly having fun and her reactions to once again having to relive the same day provide some good humor. Phi Vu, who plays Ryan, is given a lot more to do in this one as he was much more of an ancillary character in the first, Vu isn't the strongest actor but he did well considering. The film even starts out with his character, giving Tre a chance to breathe before dominating the rest of the film.

I admire them for wanting to do something completely different, yet continuing to embrace what made the first one a surprise hit. As much as they would probably like to keep making these films, I'm already tired of them and feel like they have already exhausted their storytelling options. Tre deserves a break and so do we.

C-