'The Hangover Part III' review by Captain Raptor

'The Hangover Part III' review by Captain Raptor

Personally, I consider the second Hangover movie to be thoroughly underrated. People commonly and admittedly correctly point out that it follows the precise formula of the first film, but for me that doesn't overshadow the fact that the shocks of 'what the hell did we do last night' being revealed were still blind-siding and the comedy was still funny. So, I was looking forward somewhat to a third round of eye-widening if simplistic mayhem with Bradley Cooper and co. 

Not being formulaic might actually be the crucial flaw in this lamentable third instalment. There's no drunken antics, no sense of 'anything could happen next' craziness; the plot doesn't actually lend itself to comedy: this time round, the Wolfpack are roped into tracking down their erstwhile associate/antagonist Mr Chow, or the gang's superfluous fourth member Doug will be killed. The joy in the other films was the unveiling of the ludicrous actions on the night before, and with that removed Part III flounders for its full runtime without ever really knowing what to do with itself. Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper's characters aren't designed to be funny, so Zach Galifianakis is left to provide the entirety of the film's comedy, a duty at which he fails spectacularly. Galifianakis' Alan has evolved over the course of three films from lovable misfit to an asshole of Machiavellian proportions. Previously, his actions were misguided but all in the effort of making friends, now he just treats strangers, friends and family alike as pieces of dirt, turning a character who was previously both funny and almost adorable into an intolerable prick, who couldn't raise a laugh with personal comedy tuition from Bill Murray, Richard Pryor and Colin Mochrie. Worst of all is the moment in the middle of the film where they try to give Alan an honest-to-God moment of sentimentality and character growth which, aside from feeling completely alienated in a movie such as this, has no effect on either the audience (who aren't going to start sympathising with a hitherto utterly obnoxious character because he momentarily looked glumly at a toddler) or the character, who continues to act as he had been for the rest of the film.

There's a whole sense of nothingness to the film. Very few jokes are actually made, and the plot is so much more complex and serious than the guys are used to that it feels like they've written themselves into a corner where there's not enough time to be funny. John Goodman gives what would be an entertaining performance in a more serious film, but it's yet another part of the film that isn't even intended to be funny (admittedly he may have gained one of my few genuine laughs at an offhand Big Lebowski reference). Ken Jeong's insane criminal Mr Chow returns and manages to entertain, but he has a much larger role in this film and he becomes grating towards the end. There are a couple of needless callbacks to the earlier films, neither of which are funny and both remind you of when the series was much better (Hey, remember when Stu married a sex worker? Good times) and make Part III look even worse by comparison. 

The Hangover Part II faced a tidal wave of criticism for being too similar to the first film, and in an attempt to fix the problem, Part III has removed or changed everything that was good about either film and left us with a comedy containing no humour. If anything this highlights why formulas exist in the first place: it's much easier to colossally screw up in uncharted territory. The attempt to strain itself and to evolve as a franchise should be admirable, but the result is so catastrophic that I can't bring myself to congratulate it on any grounds. Dazzlingly poor show.