The Wolf Pack is back! However minus any wild parties or drunken behaviour it’s not really what you would expect from the final chapter of a film called ‘Hangover’ III. To create an idea of the silly, juvenile humour in this film the opening scene involves the decapitation of a giraffe. Need I say more?
When the film began I was waiting to see another wedding involving a crazy stag do. But I was surprised to find that this group of immature men who we used to love, and then slowly began to detest by the second film, was actually being responsible for once.
After Alan (Zach Galifianakis) suffers a personal crisis his three best friends; Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Doug (Justin Bartha) come together to support their friend to get him the help he needs. But of course this is not an eventful enough storyline for director Todd Philips’ wolf pack, so he throws in some major dilemmas for the group to face. These involve reunions with recognisable characters from the previous two films including Black Doug (Mike Epps), the inevitable Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong) and a very angry drug- lord called Marshall (John Goodman).
Yet again Doug (Justin Bartha) is left out of the main events of the film, but this time it is because he is being held for ransom. I know Doug messed up and caused problems in the first film but seriously? Talk about feeling unloved! Every chance Todd Philips gets he writes him out of the main plot and screen time. You almost feel like he has been constantly missing out on all the so called ‘fun’.
When you think about the Hangover films you think about crude humour, alcohol and drug use. However this film seems to use the death of animals as the butt of some of its jokes with decapitated giraffes, drugged dogs and suffocated chickens. This isn’t at all what I was expecting… Yes, I probably would have complained if this film was predictable but Todd Philips has taken the plot in a totally different direction and I must say it’s a bad one.
Everything that made The Hangover superb and utterly hilarious and one of the best comedies out in 2009 was sadly lost in this film. All the essential ingredients were missing and the only glimpse you get of the hysterical humour of the first film is in the post credits. Then you will laugh!
The good attributes of this film is that all loose ties are tied up and it rounds off and finally finishes what should have been a very short affair.
There is no debate that the Hangover franchise has become a cash cow and if you hated the second, then I would advise you to miss out the third and hold onto the brief, ever-vanishing funny memories of the first.
Rated: *