Notwithstanding any possible connections to true matters of Biblical import, that appellation - The Last Temptation - brings to mind at the very least images of little angels and devils over one's shoulders. Let's see: which spiritual voice speaks louder today, the one gently impelling me to be kind (please rewind) and look for the good in Bachelor Party 2, or the voice madly chortling on about creation - the creation of a new orifice for whomever lit the green light on this one. Read on, MacDuff!

BP2:TLT (can't bring myself to type the full name any more) concerns the trials of a few genericharacters (I'll apply for a trademark on that later) on a hellacious Miami-I'm-gettin'-hitched weekend. Ron (the imminently likable Josh Cooke) pops the question to newly-found squeeze Melinda (Sara Foster) in madcap fashion, a development with possibly nasty implications for Todd, (Warren Christie - the evil Kyle MacLachlan) who engineers the Miami weekend in hopes of nixing the nuptials via, you guessed it, that old devil temptation. Ron gets to bring his arrested-adolescent friends along (including an actual adolescent) and boozing, sexual hi-jinx and other bits of questionable stupidity ensue - but is it enough stupidity to fill up 105 minutes of wacky fun?

Short answer - no. Which raises a serious question: did we really need a sequel, 24 years down the road, to a middling Tom Hanks sex-comedy? Do the words Tom Hanks and sex-comedy even belong in the same sentence? If we believe the featurettes and commentary, yes, a sequel was absolutely in order - but it had to be the right material and not just a rehash of the first movie. Nonetheless, we're talking about an about-to-be married man being tempted by a lot of topless women. The formula don't fall too far from the tree, I'm thinking. Except now all the women have silicone bags inside their breasts. This is progress?

Bachelor Party 2 is not a bad movie, but neither is it that good. There's a dearth of raunchy material for such a long running time, anemia where nudity is concerned (a strip club scene and strip-golf are the two ... er ... stand-outs) and a general atmosphere of relaxed, amiable meandering that speaks less to an unrated sex comedy and more to say an unedited episode of Two and a Half Men. A little Nazi humor as a nod to dangerous-comedy-years-past and a truly funny sequence at a sex-addicts conference make you long for less 'learning about love' drama and mildly amusing banter, and more depravity. We're living in safe times, folks - a world where true love and family values always win out, and twisted gay bikers just want what's best for everybody.

The DVD

Video:
The Fox screener for Bachelor Party 2 comes to us on a DVD-R. A watermark appears infrequently, which doesn't much detract from the viewing experience, but since this isn't the factory-manufactured disc you'll buy or rent I can't comment on the quality of the video. As a burned disc, it looks decent - nice colors and all - and is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen ratio.

Sound:
English 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound indicates nice audio separation, but this too isn't indicative of what the actual product may sound like.

Extras:
There's a hot-tub full of extras to contend with including a Cast and Director Commentary Track during which the guys purport to play a drinking game and pretty much just laugh it up, making tons of jokes about the on-screen action and their general experiences filming. It's clearly not very informative, but fun. 18 Deleted Scenes total about 16 minutes of extra amusement. These are really more like extended scenes than deleted ones, and the level of humor is about the same as the stuff that made it into the movie. The Party Never Stops: The Making of Bachelor Party 2 is a ten-minute featurette where cast and crew talk about their notion of the importance and need for a contemporary re-imagining of the original movie. Analysis of a Stripper Fight is a seven-minute bit which is exactly what it sounds like - a real behind-the-scenes breakdown of the sequence. 18 minutes of Gag Reel & Gags stuff is about as amusing as the movie itself. The Original Trailer rounds out the extras, with its pals Closed Captioning, English, Spanish and French Subtitles.

Final Thoughts:
Regardless of whether viewers need Bachelor Party 2 (its target audience wasn't born when the first one came out) the movie treads too-lightly on ground that needs some stomping. Artificial boobs attempt to make up in size and firmness what they lack in quantity, and outrageous jokes mostly make way for either feel-good buddy comedy or romantic melodrama. Everyone's feeling agreeable and there's not a performance that clinks or clanks, (except maybe the entire evil-brother-in-law bit - a might bit too formulaic) and there's nothing wrong with that. I like a nice, calorie-free movie watching experience as much as the next bloke. I just miss those times when I could look to a movie with the promise of Bachelor Party 2 and have that promise fulfilled. The movie won't embarrass you or make you uncomfortable, won't make you laugh until you cry or get you all hot and bothered, but it has enough mild entertainment value that if you Rent It you'll have a good time. You just might get nostalgic for older times, when it was safe to be unsafe.

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