Review #991: 'The Hangover Part III' (2013)

Some film-makers form a trilogy to tell a tale, finding it a unique way to fashion a story and give the beginning, middle and end enough time and breathing space to flesh out on their own, forming stand-alone pieces that work just as well on their own in the process. Others, like The Hangover helmer Todd Phillips, use it to squeeze every drop of money out of a proven formula and fool an audience into thinking that, given the success of a previous instalment, they're in for a guaranteed good time. Only The Hangover Part II was terrible, and Part III is even worse, to the point where the franchise is barely recognisable from the hilarious and charming surprise it was back in 2009.

Ditching the formula that saw our three bumbling heroes wake up from a particularly heavy night in a variety of terrible states to find that one of their part is missing and no memory of what went down, Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) are instead roped into a plot involving an escaped-from-prison Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) and the gangster looking for him, Marshall (John Goodman). But also ditched is any sense of humour or even any actual jokes, and in its place comes cruelty and distastefulness. Opening with Alan towing a giraffe home on the back of a trailer, events take an expected unfunny turn as the animal is decapitated and Alan is convinced that he needs help. It's on their way to rehab that they find themselves confronted by Marshall and Black Doug (Mike Epps), the latter returning from the first film.

Conveniently brushing Doug (Justin Bartha) out of the way again as Marshall holds him captive so the threesome can try and generate some laughs, The Hangover Part III becomes a pedestrian bore; a series of set-pieces that quickly run out of steam. In an attempt to make up for the clear lack of inspiration, Chow's role has been beefed up even more, but Jeong's hyperactive and excruciatingly annoying shtick gets old very quickly. A scene near the end sees Chow parachuting through Las Vegas screaming obscenities, and I was left scratching my head at just how the sleeper-hit of 2009 ended up at this point. When there's a rare chuckle to be had, it comes from Galifianakis and franchise-newcomer Melissa McCarthy, who at least manage to lend a little heart to what is quite frankly an unpleasant 100 minutes.


Directed by: Todd Phillips
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, John Goodman, Melissa McCarthy
Country: USA

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie