Monday, May 27, 2013

Movie Review: Hangover 3

I went into The Hangover 3 with high hopes … even though part of me knew better. Comedy trilogies, in my open lose steam with each version. The first is always the funniest. The second is still funny but doesn’t quite have the magic of the first and the third? Well, the third is always the least funny of the bunch. This is exactly what happened with the Hangover series.

This is a departure from the first two in that there is no major blackout involved. They know what is going on the entire time. Long story short … when Alan’s (Zach Galifianakis) father dies, he goes off of his meds and is in dire need of an intervention. So the Wolf Pack reunites: Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Doug (Justin Bartha). The group is responsible for taking Alan to the rehab facility in Arizona.

But, a funny thing happens on the way to the facility. They run into Marshall (John Goodman) and Black Doug (Mike Epps). Apparently the Wolf Packs hijinx from the first two films ended up with Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) stealing $21 million in gold bars from Marshall … and he wants his gold back. Since Alan has been writing to Chow throughout his stay in a Bangkok prison, Marshall determines that The Wolf Pack are his best bet for tracking Chow down and retrieving his gold.

They start in Tijuana and, of course, end up in Vegas where the Wold Pack saga comes to a close.
I had some chuckles but I don’t think I had any real laugh out loud moments. Unfortunately, Hangover 3 suffers from trailer-it is – when all the best parts show up in the trailer. You knew the funniest moments were coming a mile away. I would have loved to see a cameo from Mike Tyson, we do get a scene with Heather Graham but it wasn’t all that funny. What was funny were the scenes with Alan and his lady love Cassie (Melissa McCarthy) but then again, the best part of that scene was featured in the trailer too.

I have to say, I’ve never been a huge Bradley Cooper fan but he was definitely bringing the hotness here. Is it wrong to say that I would have loved to see him shirtless? Nevertheless, the end of the Wolf Pack saga was a satisfying one. I just wish it had been a funnier journey.

In the previous Hangover movies, the best outtakes were shown during the credits. While you don’t get outtakes here, there is one great scene that probably had the only real laugh out loud moment (okay there was ONE).

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