Review by Pamela Zoslov
There was an episode of I Love Lucy
in which Desi Arnaz, as Ricky, made a mistake in his lines. The
spontaneous error was so charming the director wanted to leave it in
the show, but a technical problem required that the scene be reshot.
Desi tried to repeat his endearing goof, but the magic was gone.
That's how it is with movie sequels.
It's usually impossible to capture the qualities that made the
original film successful. No one predicted that THE HANGOVER,
the 2009 comedy about four dudes' crazy misadventures in Vegas, would
be a hit, but it transcended the raunchy-comedy fray with a funny
script, a likeable cast of non-stars, and a twisty plot that found
room for Mike Tyson and his pet tigers. At the time, it was the
highest-grossing R-rated comedy to date, and predictably, it launched
a franchise. The sequels, the darkly misanthropic THE HANGOVER PART II and now, THE HANGOVER PART III, the last of the
trilogy, make it hard to remember what we ever saw in THE HANGOVER.
What did we see in you, HANGOVER? What we liked, probably, was Jon Lucas
and Scott Moore's script, which created the characters
and made their situation (in Vegas for a wedding, three guys wake up hung over and unable to find the groomsman), with
its escalating absurdity, funny and convincing. Three writers tried
to recapture the magic with PART II, which placed the “wolf
pack” – including the by then more famous Bradley Cooper and Zach
Galifianakis – in Bangkok for another wedding. The movie, which relied on
the same gags, including ghastly things happening to animals (a
capuchin monkey), was ugly and grimly unfunny. In Part III
(henceforth HPIII), the ill-fated wild animal is a giraffe,
which the disturbed man-child Alan (Galifianakis), has bought now
that he's “off his meds.” (Alan's character, merely eccentric in THE HANGOVER, has degenerated into full-blown pathology.)
While not as dark as Part II, HPIII, written by director Todd
Phillips and Craig Mazin, has precious few laughs and a shopworn,
going-through-the-motions feeling.
What humor there is mostly occurs in
the early scenes. Alan's wealthy dad (a sadly underused Jeffrey
Tambor) threatens to cut off Alan's financial support unless he gets
help (Alan is 42 and still living at home). Alan responds by
defiantly slapping on his headphones and cranking up “My Life” by
his beloved Billy Joel, oblivious to his dad writhing on the floor
dying of a heart attack.
After Alan's dad's funeral, the family
stages an intervention, and the “wolf pack” – Phil (Cooper),
Stu (Ed Helms) and Doug (Justin Bartha) – are enlisted drive Alan
to a treatment facility in another state. Their vehicle is run off the
road by the criminal kingpin Marshall (John Goodman), a figure
mentioned in THE HANGOVER, as clips of the earlier, better
movie helpfully remind us (after all, it's not like people have
the finer plot points of THE HANGOVER burned into their
brains). Marshall has a beef with the calamitous criminal Mr. Chow
(Ken Jeong, the medical doctor-cum-comedy star), something involving
$42 million in stolen gold. Alan, because he's so nutty, has kept up
a correspondence with Chow, who has recently escaped from a
maximum-security prison in Bangkok. Marshall demands that Phil, Doug
and Alan find Chow, and takes Stu hostage – a nod to the convention
that has Stu always left out of the HANGOVER action.
The rest is fairly run-of-the-mill
caper-and-chase stuff. A house is broken into, the guys are
double-crossed, their van is stolen, animals are harmed (this time,
some guard dogs). Heather Graham reappears as Jade, now a married mom
and no longer a hooker. Alan finds a love interest in Cassie (Melissa
McCarthy), a plus-sized Vegas pawnbroker. Chow sings Nine Inch Nail's
“Hurt” in a karaoke bar because he, though essentially a cartoon
character, has feelings. Phil and Stu have next to nothing to do
except show up and say their lines. Attempts to re-create the funny,
improvisatory verbal byplay of the first movie pretty much fail.
While HPIII isn't entirely cynical –
that term better describes Part II – it is tired, like a mildly
unpleasant hangover after watching the first movie. That's
unfortunate, because the silly summer season could use a good comedy, or at least something without major explosions. 2 out of 4 stars.
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