Dir. Todd Phillips
100 Minutes
Rated R
The first Hangover film to me is sort of the definitive modern comedy. It took an ingeniously simple premise - piecing together the previous night after a hangover - and ran with it using lots of gross-out moments and a solid cast. Based off of its crazy success, Todd Phillips signed on for two sequels to be made. Part II, while a success at the box office, was considered a lazy, pandering follow-up. Beat-for-beat, the entire story followed the exact same path as the first (to an extreme degree), only the gags were less fun and the overall tone was much more serious. But Todd Phillips must've heard the fans' cries for something different for the third and "final" adventure with the wolf pack, because he did indeed go in a completely different direction for Part III. The only problem is he pushed it further back into the wrong direction Part II was heading in; this film is the least funny and pointlessly "serious" of the three and shouldn't even be classified as a comedy.
The plot this time around doesn't even feature an actual hangover; Alan (Zach Galifianakis) is off his medication and the old Vegas crew (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha) start on a road trip to bring him to a clinic so he won't be so self-destructive. But along the way they are kidnapped by some criminal boss dude, Marshall (John Goodman), who wants them to fetch Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) because he stole gold off him or else he will kill their pal Doug. Yeah, this major crime figure thought sending two men and a half-wit on an important mission was the best idea. So the majority of the film deals with the guys chasing after Chow while the script tries to make Alan into a "deep" character and give him a journey of self-discovery (including one very awkward scene between him and a now-older 'Baby Carlos' that isn't played for laughs).
I'm a huge fan of Zach Galifianakis, particularly his stand-up and his skits on Funny or Die, and when I heard Alan would be taking center stage for this Hangover sequel I was hoping for the best. Unfortunately, this doesn't work at all. The character of Alan works best as a supporting role, to chime in once in a while for comedic relief. He's such a crazy, out-of-touch person that it works better in small doses. I think just because audiences like his character the most, Phillips instinctively just wrote him up in this one without actually thinking about the story. He likely thought: 'Just put more Zach in there and it'll write itself!' Unfortunately that's not how it works, and Cooper and Helms are almost non-existant in this film. They are there almost as set decoration at this point. They aren't given ANY funny lines to work with. You look at Ed Helms in Cedar Rapids or The Office, and he is a great talent that just doesn't get the proper material in these films. Here he yet again just plays the guy shouting in the background. And you would think Cooper, fresh off of his career-high role in Silver Linings Playbook, would be given something of substance, but he's the same non-entity he was in the first two.
Besides Galifianakis, Ken Jeong is the only other person who was given "funny" lines, and was essentially the second main character. I have no idea what people out there think he's funny, but I find his outlandish Chinese accent annoying and unsuitable for anything other than a quick cameo. The fact that he plays a major part in this film just reiterates to me how out of touch Todd Phillips is with comedy. Even Melissa McCarthy didn't have any laughs in her small role; I thought she was the best part of both Bridesmaids and This is 40, and it's a shame they couldn't have given her something interesting to do other than yell at her elderly mother for no reason.
But the film does look really nice, don't get me wrong. There's a beautifully-shot opening scene during a prison riot, and a cool strobe light action sequence at Caesar's Palace, but none of these things amount to much because they are not even remotely humorous (they weren't even trying to be funny). The best word I can use to describe the tone of this film is: 'icky.' In fact, during a mid-credits epilogue, there was a scene that poked fun at the series by having the characters wake-up from a hangover one last time, and even though it was a quick throwaway scene, ironically I much rather would've seen that film than the mess that Part III was.
Rating: C-
Bonus - Related Internet Video:
Galifianakis on Conan, talking about some of his Hangover experiences. "It's the best of the three, it's gonna be great." I know you're lying, Zach.
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