by Kendrick Gaussoin, Editor

The Hangover (2009) introduced us to one of the funniest buddy comedy casts ever. The Wolfpack returns in The Hangover Part III, but this time the formula that was repeated in Part II and earned the franchise so much critical derision is abandoned in favor of a tale that spins off of the events in the previous movies but does not simply ape them.

There’s always money in the banana stand.

Now Alan (Zach Galifianakis – Due Date, Dinner For Schmucks) has gone off his meds and at the funeral of his father Sid (Jeffrey Tambor – Arrested Development, Psych) the three best friends that anyone could have – Stu (Ed Helms – The Office, The Daily Show), Phil (Bradley Cooper – All About Steve, The A-Team), and Doug (Justin Bartha – National Treasure, The New Normal) decide they need to stage an intervention.

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Even Mike Vallely thinks you need therapy.

On their way to take Alan to an in-patient center in Arizona, the Wolfpack are forced off the road and kidnapped by masked men. The masked men work for Marshall (John Goodman – Red State, Community), a criminal who says he will kill Doug if the rest of the Wolfpack fail to bring him Mister Chow (Ken Jeong – Community, Transformers: Dark of the Moon).

The Hangover Part III was hilarious! Alan, Phil, and Stu end up going through a whole new adventure, trying to locate Chow and trade him for the life of their friend Doug. Bringing them back to Las Vegas where everything all started is a great bookend to the series. The Marshall perspective flashbacks from the past two movies were great, and I would have enjoyed it if they had incorporated even more.

As expected, The Hangover Part III is stuffed full of hilarious scenes. I loved watching Stu practically piss his pants in the pharmacy while trying to get the medicine. Chow parachuting off of the hotel was just absolutely perfect for that character. Anyone who enjoyed the first film’s use of the camera evidence will appreciate a couple of callbacks in Part III. The most obvious of which is where Alan asks Phil to pose for a photo as he rappels down the hotel on a bedsheet rope. The whole funeral part was absolutely hilarious, seeing Alan taking a selfies with his dad’s picture had me dying on the floor.

Overall

Maybe the same “Let’s figure out what happened last night” formula wouldn’t have been tolerated by audiences a third time but at the same time the absence of the established formula makes The Hangover Part III seem like it doesn’t quite fit the series. The Hangover Part III is quite enjoyable for fans of the series and although it doesn’t quite fit the mold, many may find it as good as the first movie. The problem with The Hangover Part III isn’t the departure from the norm, but that after 75 minutes on a non-stop hilarious adventure, the ending falls flat.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives The Hangover Part III 3.5 out of 5 memorable returns to Las Vegas.

If you play it backwards, it says “Phil is dead.”

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