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They’ve traveled to Vegas and Bangkok. They’ve been drugged, kidnapped, and tattooed. They’ve hung out with strippers, monkeys, and Mike Tyson. So what more could possibly be in store for the Wolfpack in the final movie in the Hangover trilogy? Well, as it turns out…not a whole lot.
The Hangover Part III opens with Alan (Zach Galifianakis) caught in a downward spiral of insanity. He’s gone off his meds, and his behavior has gotten out of control. So brother-in-law Doug (Justin Bartha) asks Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Stu (Ed Helms) to help the family stage an intervention.
On the road to Alan’s new treatment facility in Arizona, however, things go horribly wrong. Phil’s minivan is run off the road, and Doug is taken hostage by Marshall (John Goodman), a gangster who demands that the rest of the guys find Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) and return the money that he stole. So, once again, the trio sets out on a wild and crazy misadventure.
If The Hangover Part II was The Hangover’s [even more] evil twin, then The Hangover Part III is their geeky half-brother, who tries so hard to be as outrageous as the others but just doesn’t have it in him.
While the sequel tried to recapture the success of the original by doing the same, exact thing—only bigger and crazier (and in Thailand)—the third film in the comic trilogy feels like little more than a half-hearted attempt to get the gang back together for their last hurrah. And the cast seems to be going through the motions out of some kind of contractual obligation, giving the whole thing a kind of Oh, crap…here we go again vibe.
On the bright side, the story isn’t exactly the same as the previous two movies in the franchise. No one’s getting married, and the plot doesn’t involve the Wolfpack trying to piece together the details of yet another crazy, drunken bender. The effect, however, is pretty much the same, with the trio getting into one [somewhat] outlandish scenario after another in an attempt to capture Mr. Chow and save poor Doug.
Meanwhile, Part III just isn’t as wild and outrageous as its hard-partying predecessors—for better or for worse. Instead of bombarding audiences with non-stop insanity, The Hangover Part III merely lobs the occasional gag. There aren’t even any wacky cameos. And, since you won’t spend as much time laughing (or cringing) at the gang’s over-the-top antics, you might spend the bulk of the movie debating which of the characters is the most annoying: Galifianakis’s increasingly mean-spirited man-child, Jeong’s shrill troublemaker, or Helms’s whiny dentist.
Granted, the film has a few amusing moments. But The Hangover Part III fails to recall the raucous surprises that made the original such a hit. Instead, it feels more like a sad and pathetic attempt to relive the good old days.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
