The Hangover Part III

The Hangover Part III (Todd Phillips, 2013)

Our four forced friends of Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Doug (Justin Bartha), and Alan (Zack Galifianakis) returned with Chow (Ken Jeong) for a new adventure with a story centered more on Chow and his illicit behaviors. Obviously the four get involved with an mortal enemy of Chow named Marshall (John Goodman) that goes back to the Part I linked to Black Doug (Mike Epps) who sold the drug to Alan at the first place.

With the first part being a surprise and a huge hit, part II was based on the same story line but was still pretty funny and kept the spirit of the original movie. With part III, writers Todd Phillips and Craig Mazin put their formula away and tried to do something different without being too far from the spirit and comedy while staying fresh. However, the biggest deception is the fact that they so needed their formula that they had to include one in the final credits. So sad that it is the best part of the whole movie that it should have been their premise. Even if we feel like Alan and that the characters are like our old friends and we know that it’s gonna be a whole lot of fun, it feels like it’s good that it is the final chapter and that they don’t have something new to bring.

Another aspect of the story that carries it in the bottom is the bigger part of Chow, an annoying character that should not be central in a story. His presence in the first part was well dosed but now he has the central part and it did not help the story. This is a one sided character that plays like a cartoon. It clearly shows how much the writers were out of ideas for their central characters and have them interact with a lesser more accessory one.

Overall, this is the worst of the trilogy and hopefully the last one. It’s sad that the little first effort would be shadowed by the lesser movie that is Part III. As a comedy, it didn’t made me laugh more that two or three times and I didn’t even smile more often. It was one of the comedies I was expecting to actually enjoy but unlike American Reunion last year, I think that adding one more entry was just not necessary. A deception.