The Hangover Three Movie Review

Despite all the praise and popularity these movies have obtained, I gotta be honest; I never thought the original “Hangover” was THAT brilliantly funny. I laughed my ass off no doubt, but I’ve laughed harder at better movies than this one. Still, popularity and box office buzz seemed to create something amazing here and went onto “The Hangover 2,” which critics and people saw as a rehashing of the first movie. However, it still earned lots of money…again. So it only seemed logical this “Wolf pack” should finish things off in a trilogy, appropriately called “The Hangover III.”

Directed by Todd Phillips, this final entry stars the usual suspects Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Doug (Justin Bartha), Alan (Zach Galifinakis), and Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong). After Alan’s father passes away, the gang decides to get him medical help for his mental troubles. However, at the hospital, new troubles emerge as Marshall (John Goodman) assaults the Wolf pack and kidnaps Doug. If they ever want get Doug back and alive, the gang has to track down Mr. Chow and deliver him to the gangster Marshall or else Doug won’t live to go missing a 4th time around.

In a lot of ways, this movie seems to be doing the exact same thing they have done before, but also trying something different to keep it from feeling like a repeat like in part 2. This method yields very, very MIXED results, most of the time with the mixture not coming out right. First off, for a movie series based off the name alone; it seems very incompetent to not have anyone getting black out drunk or having a hangover like they did in part 1 and 2. Even if you know the audience will perceive another black out drunken fest as reusing the same plot from before, you almost expect it regardless since the movie IS called “The Hangover” after all.

Part of the originality of the humor that worked in the first film is the idea of 4 idiots back tracking through seemingly unrelated, nonsensical incidents and watching their reactions to all the weird crap they did without even realizing it. Here, it feels like another comedy adventure movie with the characters from the “Hangover” movies; than it feeling like it is a “Hangover” movie like you would expect. The jokes for the most part are a toss-up, some work and some don’t and there’s not a lot of comedic consistency being felt here. Part of this problem stems from the unintentional sabotaging of the series two funniest and laughably lovable characters: Alan and Chow.

No matter what your thoughts on the movie series are, it’s impossible to doubt there is real comedy gold pumping through the veins of Galifinakis and Jeong. These guys are frigging hysterical and they know it. This movie gives them much more screen time than usual and to be honest, I think that was a big mistake. These guys are given too much time and are made to look like over exaggerated assholes or head cases to be appreciated anymore. It’s kind of like the shark from “Jaws.” We really didn’t see much of the actual shark until the very end and after 3 or 4 sequels; we saw so much of the shark that it wasn’t scary anymore or much of a villain.

Chow and Alan were not funny enough in this film because we got too much of them and the writers and director didn’t know when to learn enough is enough. We saw these guys so much that they’re antics became less funny and more obvious. They didn’t seem as unpredictable anymore because we have seen them so much that they have become the predictable, and that’s mainly from this movie alone! It’s clear from the ads and trailers that the creators feel this movie series is more famous and familiar with audiences than it actually is. But as the films have progressed, the glowing reviews and high riding money trails have gotten reduced sequel by sequel and this film proves why.

Todd Phillips and the cast kept thinking because they liked what they were churning out, that meant we in turn automatically loved watching the wolf pack go through stunt after crazy stunt. Personally, this movie series has always felt like a one trick pony to me and this unfortunate, disjointed rehashed mess of the same 5 jokes has shown us the trick has long since past its prime. “The Hangover III” is another worn out party game we’ve all played before and had the same outcome every time, it’s just now were sobering up and seeing it that way for the first time. The best characters are de-humorized, the story doesn’t really work, the jokes are hit and miss and overall, the ride should have started and ended with the first “Hangover” movie.

What do you think of The Hangover III? Please leave your comments.

I give “The Hangover III” 1 star and a half out of 4.