Befitting Finale to the trendsetter theme

Rating: 6/10 (5 June 2013)

The Wolf Pack is Back! Four years after the 2009 film "The Hangover" that set the trend of bachelors party gone awry, which was in turn copy- pasted in a Bangkok sequel in 2011; now comes the grand finale to the trilogy!
Contrary to what one would expect, the story has no bachelor parties, no one gets drugged or goes missing and there are no tigers or monkeys. Just the good old bunch of three best friends reprising their roles and the amusingly criminal Chow.
The film opens with Chow staging a prison break in Bangkok. Cut to Alan who off his meds and letting his mind take off on its own as he grabs headlines for causing a highway accident. His stressed father passes away and his family decides to put Alan into a rehab in Arizona. Obviously, the duty falls on Phil, Stu & Doug to drive him there.
Enroute, they are intercepted by a drug lord Marshall and Doug is taken hostage. In return, they are told to find Chow and retrieve the gold that the latter stole from Marshall. The film then turns into an adventure-comedy as they find Chow and participate in a heist, which predictably goes wrong.
Since we know that the other films in the series have happy endings, the third one too ends with everyone being happy. But, it is the journey that makes the film interesting. While not being an outright comedy, it dabbles with deliberate drama to deviate from the predictable styles which marred the second film. And they succeed at that.
Shock value, which was the key theme in the series has also been toned down. There are no mind-numbing 'Oh My God moments' like the photographs in the credits we are used to either. By the way, if it is not much of a spoiler, Alan finds his true love in the end! But well, yeah, be prepared for one surprise from Stu in the end.
With the same star cast, the acting efforts are the same and convincing enough. Zach Galifianakis is definitely the funniest of them all, playing the man-child we are so used to seeing him as. Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms & Ken Jeong as Phil, Stu & Chow do a good job. But, it would have been a nice experiment a bigger role for Justin Bartha and allow his character to develop. And, Heather Graham makes a brief appearance.
Verdict: The second film had definitely disappointed us by aping the first. But the film makers have shaped up their act with the third installment. 'The Hangover Part III' is not extremely funny as one would have wanted but still qualifies as a decent finale.