Review: The Hangover Part III (2013)

***THIS REVIEW WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED HERE FOR THE HOLLYWOOD NEWS ON MAY 23RD, 2013***

Director: Todd Phillips.

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong, Justin Bartha, John Goodman, Melissa McCarthy, Heather Graham, Mike Epps, Sondra Currie, Jeffrey Tambor.

Running Time: 100 minutes.

Certificate: 15.

Synopsis: With Alan (Zach Galifianakis) off his meds, the Wolfpack form an intervention. On the way to rehab, the consequences of the first two films catch up with them as they find themselves the missing link to get the intimidating Marshall (John Goodman) to his goal – a certain Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong).

Todd Phillips’ first two booze-fuelled bouts of cinematic amnesia may have grossed over $1 billion worldwide, but 2009’s THE HANGOVER never screamed with trilogy potential. The gang’s all here, but you sense they’re ready to leave the fun behind. And so, it turns out, are we.

Mixing up its inherent formula, PART III once again sidelines Doug (Justin Bartha), with the boys in pursuit of Chow after he stole from angry businessman, Marshall – yes, that Marshall. With so much of what’s gone before passing without consequence, it’s a brave move to tie-in the fallout, but this was never a serious franchise to begin with, leaving the balls to the wall manhunt formula sorely missed. With a not so subtle JURASSIC PARK reference during Alan’s giraffe-based motorway opening (one of the film’s many green screen distractions), Phillips’ nods to big budget actioners lay the groundwork for a big adventure, but this final swansong never quite delivers.

Review: The Hangover Part II (2011)

DIRECTOR: Todd Phillips.

CAST: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong, Mason Lee, Justin Bartha, Jamie Chung, Paul Giamatti, Jeffrey Tambor, Sasha Barrese, Yasmin Lee.

SYNOPSIS: With Stu (Helms) choosing to marry Lauren (Chung) in Thailand, he invites Phil (Cooper), Doug (Bartha) and future brother-in-law Teddy (Lee) along for the ride. After being roped into inviting Alan (Galifianakis) against his wishes, Stu’s preferred ‘Stag Brunch’ turns into another night of mayhem resulting in them waking up in a seedy apartment in downtown Bangkok – without Teddy. Their quest to find him involves severed fingers, cocaine-dealing monkeys and one rather unfortunate tattoo… Will they find Teddy before the wedding?

I have to admit I was fully prepared to have a lot of bad things to say about Todd Phillips’ The Hangover Part II. Like usual, I stupidly allowed myself to read a number of reviews and decided the film was a carbon copy of the original before I’d even seen it. I did this with X-Men: First Class, followed the hype and was disappointed. I did it with The Hangover Part II and was pleasantly surprised. Is it too much to hope this theory will work with Green Lantern…? Thought so.