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The Hangover Part III (2013)

by Steve Habrat

After taking in the revolting antics of 2011s The Hangover Part II, the question of whether the world truly needed the second Hangover film hung thickly in the summer air. Was the follow-up to the inexplicable 2009 megahit really necessary? Apparently, Warner Bros. and director Todd Phillips thought the world needed a double dose of the Wolfpack. I don’t think there is any doubt that the world DEFINITELY didn’t need a third Hangover movie, but here we are with what is being called the final installment in the Hangover trilogy. Let’s hope so. Let me be clear when I say this—America, this is what you asked for. The Hangover Part III is about the laziest movie I’ve seen all year. It can be commended for breaking the formula of the first two movies and trying something new, but was everyone sleepwalking through the making of this thing? Devoid of any solid laughs and structured with a plot that seems like it was conceived by someone in a drunken stupor, The Hangover Part III is about as flat, arid, and jaded as cash grab sequels come. Even the target audience will have a hard time finding the humor in all of this, and more importantly, they’ll find it nearly impossible to root for the horribly detached heroes Phil, Stu, and Alan. You’ve been warned, folks.

The Hangover Part III focuses much of its attention on bearded oddball Alan Garner (played by Zach Galifianakis), whose bizarre behavior is slowly spiraling more and more out of control He has quit taking his medication and in a seriously foolish move, he purchases a giraffe that is killed while he tows it down the highway. Appalled by his son’s anti-social behavior, Alan’s father, Sid (played by Jeffrey Tambor), drops dead of a heart attack. It doesn’t take long for the grieving family to round up Alan’s best buddies and stage an intervention for the distraught man-child. Among the friends that step in are schoolteacher Phil Wenneck (played by Bradley Cooper), dentist Stu Price (played by Ed Helms), and Alan’s brother-in-law Doug (played by Justin Bartha). The group convinces Alan to go to rehab, but he is only willing to go if the Wolfpack will go with him. While on their way, the guys are rammed off the road and confronted by the pudgy gangster Marshall (played by John Goodman), who demands to know the whereabouts of flamboyant Chinese gangster Leslie Chow (played by Ken Jeong). It turns out that Chow, who has recently broken out of a Bangkok prison, has stolen $21 million dollars in gold bars and that Alan is the only one who has had communication with him since the escape. Marshall takes Doug as collateral and threatens that if the Wolfpack doesn’t track Chow down in three days, he will kill Doug.

The biggest crime of The Hangover Part II was that it recycled the plot of the first film, switched locations, and then padded it with a thick layer of lurid shocks. It was the ultimate endurance test and I’d say Phillips was the true victor. With The Hangover Part III, Phillips wisely moves away from the gross out approach that he used in Part II. You’d think that a toned down feel and a fresh plot that was minus a night of heavy drinking would refresh the franchise and energize the main players, but it’s actually the complete opposite. There is barely a laugh to be found throughout the hour and forty minute runtime, just ask the packed showing that I attended. There was an excited buzz in the air before the opening credits rolled and as the film drug on, you could feel that excitement slowly fading as joke after joke failed to get much of a reaction. To make things worse, Phillips then placed the two most popular characters, Alan and Chow, at the forefront of the entire project. You probably already know I’m not a big fan of either character and I think that a little bit of each one goes a very long way. You can just sense that the studio and the filmmakers are crossing their fingers that Galifianakis and Jeong will carry the film across the finish line. It should be said that they don’t. They stumble and fall the minute they get moving.

The sense of laziness carries over into the performances from Helms and Cooper, both who act like they’d like to just step away from the project altogether. Cooper, who is hot off an Oscar nomination for his surprising performance in Silver Linings Playbook, seems to be preoccupied with his new success and bored with the story. The script doesn’t even bother to elaborate or deepen his character in any way, shape, or form. He’s just going through the motions for a paycheck and its painfully obvious. As far as Helms goes, he was the one doing most of the work in the first two films, but here he seems edged out by Phillips and Galifinakis. He was usually the one who had the best one-liners but he’s nearly invisible this time around. Galifianakis is off his game (and his rocker) the second we catch up with him as he speeds down the freeway with a CGI giraffe being tugged behind him. Every single joke he cracked made me want to bury my face in my hands and shake my head (mind you, that is not a compliment). As far as Jeong’s Chow goes, there is just entirely too much of him. Even the die-hards will have a hard time defending his drastically increased screen time. Goodman puts forth quite a bit of effort as Marshal and he certainly owns the screen when he is squeezed into it, but there is little in the way of substance there. Fans of the first film will rejoice when they catch a glimpse of Mike Epps as “Black” Doug, Heather Graham as Jade, and, yes, even Baby Carlos, but the thrill will instantly fade when you realize they are given absolutely nothing to do besides reminding the audience that they still exist.

While I will agree that The Hangover Part III is a step up from the pitiful second installment, it is still the furthest thing from a great film. There are certainly a few cruel jokes (the worst being the decapitation of the giraffe) but most of them are unbelievably tame, limp, or simply non-existent. There are times when the film seems to be attempting to jump from the comedy mold entirely and into something resembling an action movie/crime caper, but it is far from smooth about this transition and it is just plain awkward. The project doesn’t even perk up when the Wolfpack finally arrives back in their Las Vegas, their blinking and flashing Hell on earth. By that point, it seems like cast and crew have upped and abandoned this turd altogether. Overall, the reshaped plot is a smart move, but the lack of even one memorable joke and the drastic shift in tone seem to have crushed the Wolfpack’s party spirit. They are ready to move on to bigger and better projects, ones that are more deserving of their comedic talents. And you, America, are ready to laugh at something far funnier than these obnoxious and poorly drawn characters. This is the worst film of 2013 so far.

Grade: F 

The Hangover Part II (2011)

by Steve Habrat

I’m just going to go ahead and put this out there: I really disliked The Hangover. There. I said it. I’ve given the film three go-arounds and I couldn’t even force myself to enjoy it. Criticize me all you want, tell me I lack credibility, I’m striving to be different, whatever. The first Hangover movie sucked. It wasn’t funny, fresh, new, or as charismatic as it was convinced it was. It tried way too hard when half the jokes didn’t land. I found it astonishing that people actually said it was such an original concept. Really? Have you ever heard of a movie called Dude, Where’s My Car? Thought so. None of the characters were likable or relatable in any way and don’t even get me started about Bradley Cooper’s Phil or Zach Galifianakis’ Alan. The fact that misguided audiences stood behind them with such ferocity left me speechless. The original film only offered up a handful of genuine chuckles and yes, I do mean chuckles. Oh, and the joke “Paging Dr. Douche Bag”? Not funny.

Well, to everyone who enjoyed the first round of debauchery can give a humongous bro cry of joy and slap your buddy a high five. The Wolfpack is back and even worse than before. The first film was very average at best. It never seemed to live up to it’s full potential and really drive it’s characters to the brink of madness like it should have. This time around, director Todd Phillips pushes the revulsion to eleven and makes an excruciating film that once again only manages to elicit minor (and I do mean MINOR) chuckles and disgusted groans from it’s desensitized audience. Through the coarse of it’s 100 minute run time, The Hangover Part II relentlessly attempts to convince you that it’s really really funny. This should not be mistaken for it actually being funny because it basically isn’t. It’s just horrific and misguided.

For anyone who actually likes these characters should consider signing themselves up for a psychiatric evaluation. They are not funny, not cool, not people I would ever want to hang out with in real life, not sympathetic, and certain not the heroes people have built them up to be. They are douche bags and nothing more. Take Alan for example. What makes this oafish man-child who has a fascination with The Jonas Brothers the stuff of cinematic legend. He spouts off random humor that apparently is meant to shock and awe the audience when really he’s just an obnoxious dweeb. Or Phil? Phil is a hateful character who on the surface is supposed to be the cool, calm, and collected one. Is it wrong that I wish the worst actions be done on to him? He’s egotistical and coarse. Perhaps that was Phillip’s intention to make us dislike them, but the American public seems to melt over their every word. My hope is that this movie will bring them out of their trance.

The Hangover Part II is literally the same movie in a different location. It shamelessly goes through the motions while grinning at itself. It’s convinced it’s great and it prays that you don’t wake up to its true motive, which is to rob you of another ten bucks. But back to the so-called plot. The douchepack is heading to Thailand for Stu’s wedding. Stu, played by the infinitely talented Ed Helms, is basically the only likable character partly because of his reactions to the situations they find themselves in. He’s aghast and seething with anger when he learns of his past actions, which is realistic due to some of the danger that follows them around. But Helms, who is the only talented person attached to this turd, also makes him slightly genuine and sensitive. Once in Thailand, the Wolfpack, along with Stu’s future fifteen-year-old brother-in-law turn a night of one beer on the beach into another drunken romp through the seedy city of Bangkok. This time, they join forces with the shrill Mr. Chow, played by Ken Jeong, who seems to be funny in literally everything else but this. What follows is a barrage of riots, transgender sex, drug dealing monkeys, car chases, gun shot wounds, severed fingers, American gangsters, and a character missing in action. And let me tell you, folks, it is painful to endure.

The characters that were one note to begin with do not grow or reveal any depth. They are stretched paper-thin and some of them actually snap right in front of our eyes. This is especially true with breaded Alan, who makes one idiotic comment after another. But if it’s not broke, don’t fix it, right? Phil never even attempts to redeem himself and make us actually like him. Only Stu manages to hold our interest and make us wonder if he will make it back to his wedding in one piece. Mr. Chow is still a character that should have been left on the cutting room floor. A perpetually nude bisexual “gangsta” who makes countless racist comments and cuts Alan down every chance he gets while Alan laughs right along. Maybe Phillips is comparing the relationship between Mr. Chow and Alan to the way audiences howl at the lazy jokes that provide the foundation of these films? One can only wonder.

Even worse, the film lacks a coherent plotline and major conflict. The film really only makes it’s characters aware of a threat in final half hour of the film. The rest is just a horror show of outrageous deprived behavior. The film’s tone is so indecipherable at points that I can’t tell if it was trying to be exploitative or maneuver into the dark comedy realm. It’s dazed with no clear direction just like it’s protagonists. My only hope is that audiences realize that the same joke told two times in a row is not funny especially if joke was unoriginal and unfunny in the first place. A deplorable and careless sequel.

Grade: D-

The Hangover Part II is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.