Happy Death Day 2U Review: 4 Ups & 6 Downs

5. The Humour (Mostly) Falls Flat

The first Happy Death Day was a pretty light and goofy affair, but the sequel massively ups the "humour" and basically detours into flat-out genre comedy territory.

Though this does rouse some intermittent laughs, as many gags totally misfire as actually hit their targets, inducing at least as many groans as chuckles.

For instance, when an explosion catapults all the focal characters across the science lab early in the movie, it's shown in slow-motion and is set to classical musical. It's an old-hat gag that's been done dozens of times over the years, yet there's nothing remotely subversive or fresh about it being recycled here.

A distraction scene in the third-act is also painfully cringe-worthy, while it's really just a roll of the dice as to whether the incidental dialogue throughout the film works or not.

Obviously the PG-13 rating places a ceiling on the kind of jokes the film can make, but the comedy really feels like it isn't trying hard enough to entertain anyone over the age of about 17 most of the time.