The Hangover Part III

The Hangover Part III

Directed By: Todd Phillips

Written By: Todd Phillips, Craig Mazin

Produced By: Todd Phillips, Daniel Goldberg

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, Heather Graham, Jeffrey Tambor, John Goodman,

Plot: When Alan becomes emotionally unstable after the death of his father, the Wolfpack agree to get him back on the road to recovery. What could go wrong?

The first film in the series was a breath of fresh air to comedy films. The idea, the location, the cast, the plot, the jokes were all perfect. It was the perfect one off that Hollywood needed to revive comedy once again. However, it was very much a one trick pony. Whilst the first film offers a premise we haven't seen before, and gags that were simply hilarious, Part II copied it, becoming stale whilst being mildly amusing. So where would Part III go? Surprisingly, the main cast don't get drugged by accident and wake up trying to find a lost cast member. 

Like the majority of film franchises lately, the series goes a little darker. With Doug (Justin Bartha) being held hostage by Marshall (John Goodman) and to get him back, the Wolfpack have to bring him a certain Mr. Leslie Chow. In 'The Hangover' Chow was a brilliant character, outrageous, funny and bold. But it seems as if the filmmakers are trying to hard with his character, trying to create ways of making him more crazy and funny. It doesn't really work. The film tries to take a darker tone, with gangsters after the guys, and people being gunned down in the desert, and it feels out of place amongst the series' comedic genre.

The characterization of Alan was quite interesting, showing the effects of his fathers' death and how deals with those. He is still quite amusing, but there aren't any "belly laugh" moments within the film. Don't get me wrong, there are funny parts of the film but it just doesn't feel original anymore. Instead of the tiger or the monkey, they have the giraffe and the roosters. Instead of throwing a mattress from the roof, they scale down the building using bed sheets.  It just seems to me like they're copying their earlier work. Midway through the film, I thought how much bad luck do these guys have for so much bad stuff to happen to them, it's becoming literally unbelievable.

Like I said, there are some laughable scenes in the film (The giraffe). But don't go in expecting to be rolling on the floor laughing. 

Written By Eammon Jacobs

4.5/10