This film was entitled “The End” by the director and cast members alike, but is it really the end for the Wolfpack?
The Hangover typically started with a clip involving Alan Garner, played superbly again by Zach Galifianakis in his role as the class clown. Alan is speeding down the American freeway, drinking a bottle of beer, and towing a giraffe behind him. Completely normal behaviour, for Alan, at least. Of course there is drama here and this latest stunt rates towards the top end of the Alan-crazy-scale as he drives the car through a low bridge, beheading the giraffe, causing the giraffe’s head to fly through the windscreen of another car on the road which goes out of control and ends up causing a multi-car pile-up on the freeway, while Alan sheepishly drives away, predictably unscathed, despite leaving everything in his wake.
This leads to the first change of pace seen in the Hangover trilogy, as Alan’s latest drama becomes the reason the four members of the Wolfpack get into trouble, but not on a night of booze, birds, and bleeding faces, rather just because Alan is, well, Alan? For this reason, I think The Hangover III is somewhat of a lie to the paying viewers of the film. The title demands crazy, drunken, nonsensical drama and the film doesn’t deliver that.
Despite the obvious flaw with the plotline of the film, it is actually very funny and did make me laugh out loud on a few occasions. Alan is of course the punch line in the majority of the comedy scenes, such as his dad passing away while Alan continues to listen to his iPod and has no idea of what is happening in the room behind him, or when he relieves himself due to fear while Doug is held at gun-point in Mexico and has to borrow a pair of grey tracksuit bottoms from the owner of the house.
Bradley Cooper’s character Phil is very well-played in this film. I think I prefer Phil more now than in the previous two films, which I can’t always say about the other characters. In particular, and I don’t want to give too much away here, I enjoyed Phil’s character in the scenes where he and Alan work together. Maybe that’s because I like the idea of the cool, stylish gentleman coalescing with the village idiot, I don’t know.
Stu, played by Ed Helms, is predictably the sensible one who gets led astray by the others, just like when he got the Mike Tyson tattoo and ended up having brief sexual intercourse with a Thai transvestite. In this film, Stu is forced to almost lose his dental licence by purchasing an insane amount of drugs to help sedate Mr. Chow, and then has to drive a limousine through Las Vegas to save Chow at the end of the flim.
This leads onto the exciting part of the film. For all of the changes in the plot of The Hangover III, the one thing that remains a real hit with the audience is the trip back to Las Vegas. Keeping in line with the rest of the film, the trip to Vegas isn’t for a wild party, although that does play a part in the scene. Here, Alan finds love in a cash-for-gold store with a woman named Cassie, played by Melissa McCarthy who you may know from the TV series Mike & Molly? Or the mouthy one in Bridesmaids? Anyway, Alan finds love. The Wolfpack are in the store looking for Chow who has potentially pawned off millions of dollars of gold bars, and end up being sent to the Caesar’s Palace hotel/casino where Chow is hosting a crazy party, in typical Chow style.
Again, without giving too much away, the film escalates from the death of Alan’s father to something completely, ridiculously different. It all culminates when the Wolfpack reunite at Alan’s wedding, as the end scene to the film skips six months down the line. Overall, I’d suggest you ought to go and see this film if you’ve previously seen the other two. If you haven’t, not only will you obliviously sit through many of the jokes while the rest of the cinema audience who have seen the other films laugh along, but you will also miss out on some of the real Hangover moments which change in the third film.
The Wolfpack go back to Vegas, Stu meets up again with the stripper who he married in the first film, you see the guys move forward with their lives, but you also see Alan stagnate towards a new horizon, which really encapsulates the feel of the film and the tone the audience are supposed to have during the story. The Hangover III is a sequel which continues the prequels legacy, rather than expands upon it. It is a film you’ll probably buy on Blu-Ray/DVD when it comes out if you’ve seen it at the cinema, but also won’t be a film you’d regret not seeing if you haven’t been involved in the trilogy.
Oh, and don’t get up until the credits are over, OK?
3 stars ★★★✰✰
