The screening of Sione's Wedding on telly the other night might have been part of the launchpad for this belated sequel to the 2005 local box office champ. But it was also a telling reminder.
Six years on, that first feature still holds up. It might be remembered as a comedy, but it wasn't a lightweight. It was neatly grounded in the characters - some prototyped in the Naked Samoans' theatre days - and it found laughs in the friction between boozy Kiwi blokedom and Samoan family and cultural values.
It also had visual style and energy, some ripper one-liners, romance and a line in goofy fun. Yes, it is possible to breakdance to an Irish jig, though the pub bouncers won't like it if you do.
It was also about guys we might know, set somewhere we might recognise, and it had a movie's worth of ideas of behind it.
However, its underwhelming sequel is a low-energy affair, one which feels like an overstretched and farcical television episode. While it's supposedly darker - due to a key event early on that sets up the lead quartet's supposed "quest" - what follows is both broader in its comedy and shallower than its predecessor.
