A lot of people took issue with The Hangover II’s portrayal of Thailand, saying it was racist and xenophobic and blah blah blah (is anything ever NOT racist, according to the internet?). Personally, I liked it better than the first, which glorified Vegas even though it’s just a seedier Scottsdale in an Ed Hardy shirt. I feel like you’re supposed to feel fear and loathing towards a place you wake up hungover. Anyway, the Wall Street Journal finally decided to ask Thailand about it (“EXCUSE ME, MAY I SPEAK TO BOB THAILAND?”). Hilarity and tranny sex ensued.
BANGKOK—Thailand’s tourism chief hasn’t seen the Warner Bros. box-office smash “The Hangover: Part II,” which is based in Bangkok. Maybe that’s just as well.
“What’s it like?” asked Supol Sripan, general-director of the country’s tourism department, on a recent Thursday afternoon.
Well, it shows his nation’s capital as chock-full of drug-dealing mobsters, drunken bar fights and hazily remembered sex in the back rooms of brothels. In the movie there are also car chases through teeming streets, and a chain-smoking monkey.
“Hmm,” Mr. Supol sighed. “Well, I suppose it’s true. We have all those things.” [WallStreetJournal]
Aw, I think I love you, glib thoughtful tourism chief. I suppose it makes sense that a country that tolerates women who shoot blowguns with their vaginas would have a sense of humor about themselves.