The Hangover Part III - "Did you know your name used to be Carlos? I think it suits you better."
The original Hangover was a very competent comedy film where the dynamics of the main characters clashed and created all sorts of hilarity, the structure was also different and interesting, a lot of people didn't like The Hangover Part II because it adhered to the same structure but that's the selling point for me, get drugged > wake up > find Doug > hilarity ensues. With The Hangover Part III the structure is thrown out the window and it's just to put it bluntly a very boring film with little to no plot. Alan's father dies at the beginning of the film which brings the Wolf-pack together and they notice than Alan has changed, he treats his family very poorly & is no longer on his medication so the Wolf-Pack decide they should send him to a rehab facility to get better. Here is red flag number 1, in the original two films Alan is the lovable idiot with funny lines, in this one he's turned into an asshole with no redeeming qualities, he's not likable anymore and he's arguably the funniest character of the franchise. Red flag number 2 Bradley Cooper as Phil is no longer the lovable foul mouthed asshole, in fact he's not anything, he isn't mean in his usual charming fashion, he doesn't call anyone a cunt he's just there and frankly as an actor way above this material. The film focuses way more on Ed Helms as Stu, Zach Galifianakis as Alan & Ken Jeong as Mr. Chow who is unbearably irritating.
Chow is a character you have to use sparingly, introduce him halfway through the film as an antagonist that adds to the drama but don't ever leave the spotlight on him too long. In this film he's in almost Every.Damn.Scene and he serves no other purpose but to move the paper thin plot along. The plot is a joke, it's as simple as John Goodman play's a rich man who kidnaps Doug & forces the Wolf-Pack to find Mr. Chow because Chow stole $21,000,000 dollars in gold bars from him. Mr. Chow proves difficult to catch, always JUST out of arms reach and hilarity is supposed to ensue except it doesn't. Even Melissa McCarthy couldn't save this film with her slightly amusing cameo. If you're going to throw out the structure and revisit the same setting as the first film which is risky then change up the cast, why not include Doug on the adventure this time? Why not have a woman join the cast and let Melissa McCarthy accompany them? I feel it would have been a much better movie to adhere to the Hangover structure and just have them in a wild new setting, even crazier than Bangkok. They always talked about using South Africa in the third film but people got angry about Part II so now we have this lazy, dull unfunny film set in Las Vegas and they don't even exploit Las Vegas like they did in the first film, they visit one casino, that's it.
Todd Philips the director also wrote the screenplay and should get a lot of credit for coming up with the franchise and characters. 2/3 ain't bad but sadly like with a lot of trilogies the third film jumped the shark and needs to be desperately laid to rest. If you didn't enjoy the second film because of the structure then by all means you might enjoy this film, if you like the Hangover structure then you might be in the same boat as me and dislike this film greatly. It's just so disappointing because the first two Hangover films were the first American comedies to make me laugh out loud in the cinema in years, this one didn't even get a chuckle and had no vulgarity laced into the plot. I'm glad it's over and the cast are moving on I look forward to see what Bradley Cooper does next. 1/5
Bechdel Test: there are 2 female characters, they do not speak to each other, this film fails the Bechdel test
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