THE HANGOVER Part III

THE HANGOVER Part III              

Jeri Jacquin, Movie Maven  

Coming to theatres this Thursday from director Todd Phillips and Legendary Pictures comes the final installment of the Wolfpack in THE HANGOVER Part III.  

This film tells the story of an out of control Alan (Zach Galifinakis), off his meds and driving her father crazy. So much so that brother-in-law Doug (Justin Bartha) calls for a family intervention.  

Bringing along the guys for moral support Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Stu (Ed Helms) convince Alan to go to a facility in Arizona. During the road trip they are sideswiped by Black Doug (Mike Epps) and a man named Marshall (John Goodman) who seems pretty irritated with the group.  

They kidnap Doug and tell the guys that they must find Chow (Ken Jeong) and make him return money that belongs to Marshall or else Doug gets it! As usual, when these guys get together – they are lucky to make it out alive.  
This time is no exception!  

FINAL WORD: Cooper as Phil is still amazingly, stunningly, gorgeously handsome as always, or as Alan refers to him once as “blue eyes” but in a grumpy way. The role of Phil has to be fun for Cooper because he does it with such ease. In this film he does what he does best – get a little crazy and get a lot done.  

Helms as Stu is nursing a tattoo removal from there last escapade. Happily married he doesn’t want to get involved with Alan and REALLY doesn’t want to get involved with anything Vegas related. Unfortunately, things end up right back where they started and its time for him to “doctor” up!  

Bartha gets to actually be kidnapped this time instead of left on a roof or sitting pretty doing phone duty. He doesn’t have much to say – most of the time he’s screaming! Hey, if it pulls in a paycheck I’m all for that. Epps as Black Doug makes a nice appearance. Goodman as Marshall gets a chance to play a bad guy in Vegas, or is it Tijuana?  

Jeong if funny as Mr. Chow but in smaller doses than the previous films. It is quite clear that Chow doesn’t ride both rails and constantly needs bad attention and here he gets more of the same. There is a moment with Galifinakis that is touching – till its not.  

Galifinakis gets to be the scene hog here. We’ve watched Alan evolve through the films with some serious laughs, some seriously looks and some serious head shaking knowing this guy wasn’t firing on all cylinders. This time there are funny moments but towards the end it turned into charm.  

Other cast include: Jeffrey Tambor as Sid, Heather Graham as Jade, Sasha Barrese as Tracy, Jaime Chung as Lauren, Sondra Currie as Linda, Gillian Vigman as Stephanie and Melissa McCarthy as Cassie.  

TUBS OF POPCORN: I give THE HANGOVER Part III three tubs of popcorn out of five. Personally I would have loved more laughs, especially since this is the “end” of the road. The story takes an interesting twist going from California to Arizona to Mexico and back to the Las Vegas stomping grounds where it all began and that was nice.  

There were long spaces in between laughs, it seemed to get to serious at some points and there is predictability here. I mean seriously, who would EVER turn their back on Chow? The cast stayed true to their original characters, which is the whole reason the franchise works.  

I’m sure fans of the trilogy will have no problems walking away happy but I walked away mildly entertained thinking somebody was overpaid for this somewhere along the line. The Wolfpack will be welcome by fans for sure.  

In the end – the epic conclusion to the trilogy of mayhem and bad decisions!