Unbelievably bovine.

Rating: 3/10 (7 June 2013)

I don't profess to be much of a sucker for the films that really value your popcorn but "The Hangover Part 3" is a tiresome experiment of an age-old concept. A concept that had come and should've gone with "The Hangover" a few years ago but unfortunately did not. The first installment was admirably zingy and surprisingly original, and worked solely because it fleshed out its characters so wonderfully well. The second one was basically ripped-off from the first one, but the repetitive and derelict gags and the familiar situations ended up getting the better of your patience. A greatly optimistic person would've believed that a third part would actually make sense when the second one clearly missed the mark by miles, and that's why, I presume, they've made a third one.
After the death of his father, Alan (Zach Galifianakis), a troubled loner, decides to take up therapy on the insistence of his family. Driving him to the rehab facility are his three friends Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Doug (Justin Bartha), but get ambushed mid- way by a group of gangsters headed by Marshall (John Goodman). Marshall tells them that their friend Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong), who had escaped from the Bangkok prison he was in, conned him out of 21 million dollars worth of gold bars and now wants it back. Though they protest about not knowing Chow's location, they're told to get the loot in three days time and take away Doug as bait. The rest of the plot focuses on their attempts to reach and outsmart Chow of the loot and the things that eventually happen when everything predictably goes wrong.
"The Hangover Part 3" is nowhere as hilarious as the first installment, and the few weak gags that are thrown to us doesn't even classify it as a comedy. What it really is, is some kind of a farrago that doesn't know what it wants to be and ultimately settles for an unpropitious crime-comedy so lame-o that it's hard to guess which quip merits a laugh. One of the most vacuous instances in the film is Alan taking a smiling picture of himself at his father's funeral. If that was supposed to be a joke, it was either very mildly funny or completely doltish. There are a few more instances like these when we feel that the film begs us to laugh, or to be amused in any way, but the gags are often so feeble that we can only manage a weak chuckle. Somehow, "The Hangover Part 3" doesn't feel like an installment that deserves to be placed as a sequel to the wonderful first one, partly because it tries to tell a story convincingly, and a story that had the wheels to go the distance and redeem the makers of the shoddy second, but it's lost somewhere when it desperately pretends to be a comedy. Perhaps the most amusing thing about the film is how director Todd Phillips pulled out a small link from the first film and squashed and jabbed it to produce some kind of a dim-wit story that served as its plot. The lack of attention to the little details cannot be overlooked entirely, which were clearly perceptible because the makers want you to focus more on the plot, which in turn makes it hard to invest into the story and the characters.
On the flip side, though the film is too stodgy to be a good crime story and too unfunny to be a comedy, it is seldom boring, thanks to the little twists that the plot keeps throwing up every ten minutes or so. My favorite moment in the film was when Alan placed his sunglasses on the eyes of the character of the boy, who was the lost baby in the first part, now grown-up. The moment was, in some way, wickedly moving and the makers deserve some credit for weaving the character into the plot for a small sequence.
Of the performances, Galifianakis, who plays Alan, is as likable as ever and though the plot revolves around his character more, he effortlessly carries the film throughout its runtime. Jeong plays the sassy Chow with his usual flair, and provides the much needed energy to the sinking film. Cooper sleepwalks through his role, a role that must've been absurdly easy and undeserving for an actor of his stature. Helms, on the other hand, is largely unconvincing as Stu, the twitchy dentist who shone in the first installment, but is a mere distraction in this one. He serves absolutely no purpose to the plot and the Stu he plays is so radically different from the one we knew for so long. And, as always, it's enormous fun to see the terrific John Goodman play the bad guy.
"The Hangover 3" is easily the worst installment of the three, and a film that should've absolved the makers of making the scummy sequel to the fine first. If you are a fan of the first two installments, then you might be allured by the third. For me, it was nothing more than a wearisome end to a franchise that could've been so much more.