Review: Danish shock comedy sequel ‘Klown Forever’ falls flat

Like “American Pie 2,” “The Hangover Part II,” and much of Sacha Baron Cohen’s post-“Borat” output, “Klown Forever,” the sequel to Denmark’s raunchy hit, “Klown: The Movie,” illustrates the diminishing returns inherent in going back to the shock comedy well.

Having exhausted their taboo-busting options on their home turf in the 2010 film (it was released in the U.S. in 2012), BFFs Casper (Casper Christensen) and Frank (Frank Hvam) opt to take their debauched act on the road.

Not quite adjusting to his new life of domesticity, timid Frank ditches his wife and two young kids and, in an attempt to mend their strained relationship, joins his horn-dog pal in a rented Hollywood Hills mansion.

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But that’s not the only thing that’s strained. Although Christensen and Hvam, directed again by Mikkel Nørgaard, trot out the cringe-worthy bad behavior that didn’t make it into the first film or the six seasons of the “Klown” sitcom that preceded it, their follow-up plays like middle-aged “Porkys.”

While their last movie managed to temper the outrageousness with an underlying goofy sweetness, the biggest offense here isn’t that it’s offensive, it’s just not all that funny.

Despite the fish-out-of-water potential, their misadventures in Lotus Land pay few comic dividends other than attracting cameos from the likes of Adam Levine and Isla Fisher (Cohen’s wife), and a funny bit where Frank gets his bits caught in a Navajo dream catcher.

For the most part, it’s apparent their hearts, and other organs, are no longer in it.

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‘Klown Forever’

In Danish and English with English subtitles

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes

Playing: Laemmle’s Royal, West L.A.; Frida Cinema, Santa Ana