Revisits Las Vegas but can't recapture the magic

Rating: 5/10 (8 June 2013)

The good news is that Todd Phillips and co. figured out the mistakes they made with Part II. The bad news is that they didn't figure out how to fix them. Instead of just repeating the identical plot in a new location, the guys are back in Las Vegas with a plot involving fall-out from their previous actions. That's the good part. The bad part is that it's actually kind of boring and the jokes have become pretty tiring.
Doug, Phil and Stu are delivering Alan to rehab (finally a place where he belongs). However, along the way they get hijacked. Marshall (John Goodman) and his team of thugs including Black Doug kidnap our Doug because the Wolf Pack needs to track down Mr. Chow and his stolen loot. So off we go to Mexico and back to Las Vegas on a ridiculous trail of crime.
Just like Part II, everything is bigger and bolder, and it loses even more of the wit and creativity that we had with the original. There's also way more Chow. If you think Alan and Chow are funny in small doses, imagine how unfunny they become in large doses. The insolent and rude humour usually surrounding Alan that was introduced in the sequel is still very much present. The first off-colour joke that we saw in the trailer, really was just as it was portrayed in the trailer. Alan beheads a giraffe and that is supposed to be hilarious. Nobody laughed.
Luckily Phil and Stu are always alongside the troubled man-child. Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper have quickly proved that they're the stars of this franchise. They're able to add a likable factor to the disastrous Wolf Pack that we're cheering for their success even though it's about time that we all part ways. Phil is no longer just the arrogant asshole who wants all women and everything else in the world to go his way. He has settled down and he does his best to settle the rocky relationships and situations around him.
The beginning of the film takes them to Mexico in an attempt to befriend and then betray Chow. But that part moves surprisingly slow with our only two likable heroes not providing any of the comedy. When they follow Chow to Los Angeles, things do pick up. Alan meets a woman (his soul mate) and Phil and Stu use their smarts and charm to relive the glory days of The Hangover.
This third story really didn't need to be told and we're left hoping that the Wolf Pack and their arch nemeses will learn to just let sleeping dogs lie.