If you buy this narrative, the Wolfpack are a gang of thieves.
A California man is suing the makers of The Hangover Part II, accusing them of stealing his life story to use as the basis for the blockbuster sequel's plot.
And no, this has nothing to do with the Mike Tyson tattoo debacle that previously ensnared the film and Warner Bros. in legal action.
Here's the skinny.
Per the copyright infringement suit filed in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California a copy of which was obtained by E! News, Michael Alan Rubin asserts the studio, director Todd Phillips, and the writers of The Hangover Part II lifted elements from his script, Mickey and Kirin, which follows his misadventures meeting a Japanese woman named Tamayo Otsuki in Japan in 2007.
According to the complaint, the two fell in love, tied the knot in a traditional Japanese ceremony, then honeymooned in Thailand and India only to wind up coming undone after Otsuki, unhappy with Rubin's financial situation, refused to share a hotel room with her new spouse.
Rubin subsequently hightailed it to Indian vacation paradise Goa, where he landed some acting gigs and entered into talks with a Bollywood producer about making a movie based on his (we presume short-lived) marriage. He later registered the treatment he wrote with the Writers Guild of America.
What this guy's marital misfortunes have to do with Ed Helms' character Stu losing his brother-in-law after a night of partying in Bangkok, let alone a bachelor party, is beyond us.
Rubin's representing himself in the suit, which most lawyers will tell you is a bad sign for the plaintiff. He is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for copyright infringement, misappropriation of his publicity rights and defamation.
But as Rubin states in his suit: "The plot and theme of 'Hangover 2' is copied from the treatment Mickey and Kirin' and also from the private real life incident of the plaintiff, because the protagonist in 'Hangover 2' travels from the United States to an Asian country to marry his Asian girlfriend."
Well, that explains everything—except the facial tattoo.
Before the comedy hit theaters in May, a tattoo artist sued the filmmakers alleging they ripped off the design he did for Tyson's face for the one Helms dons in the flick, even though Tyson appeared in the original and gave his implicit consent. The studio later settled the matter out of court.
A rep for Warner Bros. declined to comment on the latest suit, pending litigation.