The Hangover Part III Review

23rd May 2013

Herein lies the final outing of The Wolfpack. Never again will we see Phil, Stu and Alan embark in a hungover hazed adventure. The thing is, this doesn’t happen here either. The Hangover Part III doesn’t involve copious amounts of alcohol, abandoned babies or face tattoos. This time round, Todd Phillips has his gang of would-be heroes take on a very different tale.

The majority of The Hangover Part III takes place after the death of Alan (Zach Galifianakis) father, where an intervention occurs regarding Alan’s well being. The Wolfpack are present in Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Doug (Justin Bartha) along with some other characters in Alan’s life. It is decided that it would be best for Alan to go to rehab to help the man-child become less of a man-child.

On the way, Alan and his reluctant friends are taken hostage by Marshall (John Goodman), who informs them that if they do not find Chow (Ken Jeong), that the only logical thing to do would be to shoot Doug. And with that, the trio are left to solve a problem, which sees them tying up loose ends you didn’t know had to be tied up.

In going for a very different approach from the previous two films, Phillips has been brave and obviously believes in his franchise. But that there is the downfall. The film heavily relies on Alan’s general ineptitude at life to carry the comedic value, and while Chow’s much larger role adds to this, he is more arrogant and in-your-face than funny.

Cooper and Helms have little to do other than be thwarted here and there by Galifianakis’ bumbling Alan. In fact, they spend much of the time questioning why Alan is with them in the first place, which begs the question why they didn’t leave him somewhere and get everything done much quicker.

But it is important to mention that, with its flaws, the film is a lot of fun. You go into this film expecting to laugh, and you do. Granted, it doesn’t have any where near as much gross-out humour the first two films included, but you will chuckle at some of the throw backs to the previous installments. You will also note that you have now seen Ken Jeong’s penis more often than I’m sure you’d have ever planned.

And, while they have stated that this is the “epic finale” to the trilogy, there is a mid credits scene that makes you think otherwise. I’m sure there is the possibility of a fourth being greenlit, as this will surely do well at the box office. But whether the Wolfpack want to come out of hibernation or not is up to them. For us, there is no doubt we could be coaxed into going for another drink or two.