Very Bad Trip 3

You know that one joke you tell at every party? It was hilarious the first time you told it. So you kept telling it over and over again. You told your mom, your friends, your wacky uncle and heck you even told it to your baby sister. Each time you tell that joke it lost some of its charm and you know this in your heart, but you keep telling it because it made you someone who was at least bearable at the office party. The Hangover Part III is THAT dreaded, self-destructive joke.

The first The Hangover was a surprise to everyone. It was a smart, engaging and an all-around funny move. It made the three protagonists into overnight stars, along with Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong). Since The Hangover these four guys have experienced great success; Bradley Cooper has been nominated for an Oscar, Ed Helms became a little more then Andy from The Office, and Zach Galifianakis (the funniest of the bunch) starred on HBO's Bored to Death and Ken Jeong is a recurring character on Community. It's no surprise then that The Hangover made these guys in demand, and had the audience craving for more. So what better way to give the masses what they want than bringing the Wolf Pack back together for two more subpar movies. The Hangover Part III brings the crew back together for yet another wacky adventure, this time getting them to go to Tijuana and back to Vegas. There isn't really much to tell you about the plot that you can't figure out yourself. So it makes very little sense to go in any further detail about it, and I can move on to things that worked.

By far the funniest moment during the movie for my money's worth was when some girl in the theater screamed out loud after seeing one of the main character dangle for his life. The whole theater roared, and it was a genuinely hilarious moment. Too bad the same can't be said about the rest of the movie. No doubt there were some funny moments and personally the best bits of the movie were when Melissa Mccarthy was on the screen. Some of the other funniest moments were throwbacks to the original. I found myself doing a lot of "ooh I remember that from the first movie. Ha ha that reference is funny." Unfortunately that is all this movie is, it's a reminder of how great The Hangover was and we should nostalgia- laugh (is something I just made up) because we once thought there was no one funnier than Zack Galifianakis. Other than that any original content was drab at best.

The best laughs came from all the supporting characters, and the 'Big 3' it felt like were just there to collect the pay check. Bradly Cooper was by far the worst of the bunch. It's hard to believe that this is the same guy who was nominated for an Oscar not very long ago. Ed Helms and Zack Galifianakis were at least trying.

It was the overall chemistry of the three characters that made the original so great. The Hangover was a perfect recipe of Mac and Cheese where you threw in random ingredients and IT WAS THE BEST MAC AND CHEESE YOU EVER MADE! You tried replicating the original time after time, and tasted nothing but cheese and disappointment. It was just another Mac and Cheese. Sure it was served its purpose of feeding your broke student ass, but you yearned for that perfect gourmet Mac and Cheese fit to serve Gordon Ramsay himself.

The Hangover Part III is not a movie for people who are looking for genuine comedy. There are some very funny moments but the cheap laughs far outnumber the good ones. If you're going in expecting a repeat of The Hangover then don't waste your time and money. If you were disappointed by The Hangover Part II this movie will only throw salt on your wounds. It's sad to see such an initially brilliant trilogy end like this. Hangover 3 was nothing but one last attempt at squeezing every last dollar from the franchise. The Hangover Part III gets 5 nostalgia-laughs out of 10.

Not so long ago in the year 2009, The Hangover exploded onto the scene and was praised as one of the funniest films of the decade, with its witty cast and the hilarious "re-tracing our footsteps to find out what we did" routine running as the main plot. The Hangover Part II simply changed nothing at all, and offered nothing new with the attitude of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." What will please fan's the most with The Hangover Part III, is that is does not follow the same formula that the first two did. However, a lot of fan's will be headed into disappointment when they realize that this third instalment decides to take a completely different change in direction than that of its predecessors. And by completely, I mean very much drastically.

The story follows the Wolf Pack yet again as they try to help Alan (Zach Galifianakis) get back on track due to him being off his meds, and soon enough they get thrown into a Mission Impossible-esque mission to save their friend Doug (Justin Bartha, who yet again takes a miss on all the excitement) from Marshall (John Goodman), an angry gangster who wants' the Wolf Pack to find Chow (Ken Jeong, who has a much larger screen time in this instalment) and return to him to them with 21 million dollars in gold bricks that he stole. If not, Doug gets the offing.

A major plot point is the development of Alan. His friends Phil and Stu (Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms) are mature and grown men who have happily settled down, but he is still very much stuck as a spoilt rotten teenager within a man's body, and his life is going nowhere. Throughout the adventure, it really is a tale about Alan and watching him grow into the man he should have become years ago. Fans of The Hangover owe it to themselves to watch it, whatever their final opinion of it may be.

Whereas The Hangover Part III doesn't match the quality of its first part, it definitely doesn't deserve all the negativity it has been getting. The film does a good job of balancing the well known Hangover humour with the Mission Impossible-esque set pieces, and all the recurring stars do well reprising their roles. One of the biggest changes that The Hangover Part III entails is that there is no actual drinking/hangover sequence. There's also no wedding or no missing person (or a pot smoking monkey). Instead, it plays it much straighter and it knows what it wants to set out to do, which is to stray far away from the formula of the first two chapters. And by doing so, it makes the finale to The Hangover Trilogy one to remember.

My Verdict: The Hangover Part III is a fitting end to the trilogy, but despite its changes in directions fans will be divided, resulting in a love or hate for this final chapter.

Zach Galifianakis is now super annoying. When this started, we were laughing at him but his shtick is now tiring. They needed to downgrade his antics from mean-hearted to just simple stupidity. I know Todd Phillips is saving it for Alan to grow in this movie. But it started to happen too late.

Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms seem to be going thru the motions. We miss the face tattoo. They needed to do something to replace it.

Ken Jeong is actually doing something serious. In the first two, he was lovable bad guy. From the first moment as the naked guy in the car truck, we thought he couldn't do much damage. But in this one, he is causing real damage to the group.

John Goodman is doing a new character Marshall. He's a new bad guy looking to get Mr Chow for stealing his gold. So he kidnaps Doug to force the group to catch Mr Chow for him. It's rather serious, and not that funny.

It was good to see that Alan finally grow up, and dealt with Mr Chow.

More often than not people end up learning the hard way that it's usually better to leave a good thing well enough alone, which might be a lesson truly lived in regards to the quality of what can be deemed as The Hangover trilogy. When the exceptionally lazy Hangover Pt. II was released two years ago it highlighted the immense limitations of director Todd Phillips' storytelling capabilities as it traveled a carbon copy of the first film's intoxicated mystery and amplified vulgarity to different scenery but forgot to bring the laughs along for the trip. Now it seems the Todd Phillips created Hangover trilogy has taken to unintentionally embodying the stages of an actual hangover with the first installment's introduction serving as the party, the dirtier and lazier sequel acting as an unconscious blacked out sleep, and the newest final part becoming a nauseous, unbearable aftermath. The Hangover Pt. III: The End promises the conclusion of what could have been a respectable "adultolescence" comedy franchise and after experiencing the third installments descent into darkness and bitterness let's hope it's a promise that is inevitably kept. Todd Phillips and co-screenwriter Craig Mazin (Identity Thief, Scary Movie 3) have tossed aside all sense of wit, surprise, and genuine humor this time around replacing those qualities evident in the first Hangover with sociopathic cruelty, foreseeable plot changes, and zero sense of amusement diminishing any admirable attempt to change up the plot formula. All the fondness audiences have gained towards the characters of Alan (Zach Galifianakis), Phil (Bradley Cooper), and Stu (Ed Helms) will be tainted in this final chapter as a mixture of performance idleness, poor script follow through, and a lens focusing on their purely sober qualities makes these three characters less than sympathetic, even bordering on incredibly unlikeable. What's ironic is that Todd Phillips has gone out of his way to appease the vilest of criticisms towards his uncreative writing and yet ends up highlighting his true creative limitations by not being able to drift away from a familiar structure. Unfortunately for fans of the series and audience members hoping for a strong summer comedy The Hangover Pt. III: The End ends this less than comedic trilogy with a desperate whimper and through its mean-spiritedness becomes a barely recognizable thread to the humorous and delightfully ill-mannered film that started it all.

The Final Film in 'The Hangover' Series, 'The Hangover Part III' is A Funny Third Part! Its entertaining, crude & nostalgic. Surely, it doesn't conquer greatness, but it still delivers an ample of good laughs!

'The Hangover Part III' Synopsis: When one of their own is kidnapped by an angry gangster, the Wolf Pack must track down Mr. Chow, who has escaped from prison and is on the lam.

'The Hangover Part III' works, because the Screenplay Written by Todd Phillips & Craig Mazin, is interesting & humorous. There are some nice twists & turns in the narrative & some jokes, through crass & utterly rude, are laugh out loud funny. Only glitch lies in its slow-pacing in the first-hour. The pace needed to be more faster! Todd Phillips has Directed the film, he captures the wildness & absurdity of the film, very well. Cinematography is top-notch. Editing is sharp.

Performance-Wise: The Wolfpack of Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms & Zach Galifianakis are back & they deliver superbly, yet again! Ken Jeong is given a lot of importance this time, but he's very over-the-top. The Always Excellent John Goodman rocks in his portrayal. Justin Bartha supports well. Heather Graham & Jeffrey Tambor are fair. Melissa McCarthy is hilarious in a bit role.

On the whole, 'The Hangover Part III' is one good laugh!