The Hangover Part 3 Review

"The Wolfpack" returns in The Hangover Part 3

Photo Credit: Warner Brothers Studios

The Hangover Part 3

C

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

Who would have guessed when the original Hangover film was first released that the franchise would go this far? It was a small raunchy comedy experiment that somehow exploded into the realm of mega popularity, and now has spawned not just one but two sequels. The first film was a funny comedy rife with solid comedic timing and decent characters, the second film was a completely awful film that was an unfunny zombie version of the first film. The third film lies unfortunately, despite being better then it's predecessor, more on the side of the second film then the first one. The film is funny at times but ultimately is dragged down into the land of the poor film by bad tone and character choices.

After the already awfully socially awkward Alan (Zach Galifianakis) has a bit of a mental breakdown following the death of his father. Safe to say it has his family and friends concerned so in order to drive him to a care facility in Arizona his friends Stu (Ed Harris), Phil (Bradley Cooper), and Doug (Justin Bartha) reunite as “The Wolfpack” one last time to make sure Alan will be healthy. On their way to Arizona “The Wolfpack” is kidnapped by Marshall (John Goodman) and told that if Stu, Phil, and Alan don’t track down Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong), who stole a lot of gold from Marshall, that Doug will be shot. So the epic misadventure begins with “The Wolfpack” ultimately returning to the place where all the craziness began four long years ago, Las Vegas.

The problem with this misadventure is that it doesn’t have any sense of consistent tone. About 70% of this film tries to be darker and more like a caper then an actual comedy. This makes the most of the film drag on and be close to unwatchable, as the darker stuff just doesn’t work at all. The fun of the original Hangover film was that it went for crazy, often over the top humor that all clicked with the vibe of the film. While there is some of that humor still remaining in the bones of Part 3 (I did laugh a few times in this movie unlike in the last one) it’s a smaller part of the film then it should be. Also when it does come in it makes the more serious material feel even more off as the tonal shift is fairly drastic.

Another problem is that the film is literally at its funniest after the credits role. After the first set of credits lies the funniest scene in entire movie (in the screening that I attended the post credits sequence got the largest laugh reaction by quite a fair margin) that evokes some of the crazy hilarity of the first film. It’s disappointing as while it’s admirable that director and co-writer Todd Harris tries to deviate from the formula in this film the final sequence reminds the viewer of what the formula that the first film could achieve and what could (and quite frankly) should have been explored in the both of the sequels.

The other main problem with the film is its character focus. Focusing the entire plot on Mr. Chow is a big mistake as he was the weakest and most annoying parts of the first two movies. Most of the jokes that come from Chow in this film aren’t funny at all (save for a certain parachute sequence that I laughed at) and his shrill and under drawn character stands out even more then before when it’s put into focus.

Also I don’t quite know how well Alan works as a main character either. The two other main members of “The Wolfpack” Stu and Phil were always better drawn and more sympathetic characters and it seemed that Galifianakis’ character was there to be a supporting player to steal most of the laughs. On that basis the character works just fine but here with the focus added to him it seems that Alan should only be used as a “sometimes food” kind of character instead of a full blown lead.

For the most part the comedic acting is as good as has been in the prior films. As much as I dislike the writing and focus for Mr. Chow and Alan both Jeong and Galifianakis are good in this film and add some energy to kind of compensate for the, for the most part bad writing. Ed Harris is still as enjoyable as ever as the nerdy dentist member of “The Wolfpack” Stu. The one who seems a little lost here, for some strange reason, is Bradely Cooper. He seems a little out of this film and at times lacks the energy that he should have when jumping into his character. Maybe he just wants to just move on and continue to be the very good, more dramatic actor he has become over the years. I certainly wouldn’t blame him.

The best complement I can give to The Hangover Part 3 is that I didn’t hate the film. It provided me with enough genuine (but nothing really gut busting) laughs to allow me to suffer through the bad portions of the film. The Hangover 3 still isn’t a good film by any stretch of the imagination; it’s poorly plotted and has some really odd decisions plastered throughout, but it did provide some entertainment something that it’s predecessor cannot claim.