Just going through the motions

Rating: 5/10 (5 June 2013)

I chuckled a few times, but this third film in the Hangover franchise didn't really work for me. It just wasn't as funny or as original as Hangover I and II.
It was like everyone involved was just going through the motions, including the writers. They were obviously trying to add more depth to the Alan and Chow characters. At times, it all became too serious, forced, and even awkward. The plot felt contrived.
Part of the problem is that there was no hangover this time. I'm sorry, but this franchise sort of requires it.
The fun in I and II was partly based on the craziness of Vegas and Bangkok, but here they didn't set the movie in a third crazy city. They just went back to Vegas (via Mexico). OK, they were in Tijuana for a bit, and could have set the craziness there, but for some reason they passed.
There were a number of rather phony male bonding scenes in this movie. We are led to think that they are not just idiots who got caught up in stupid antics in Las Vegas and Bangkok; they are now men who -- often and openly -- say in rather strong terms that they are very close friends. ("I love you Alan".) But at the same time, there were quite a few jokes relating to Alan's and Chow's attraction to men, specifically Alan's man-crush on Phil. The two half-witted girls two rows back were guffawing every time. (I suppose the movie was made for them.)
After the third joke, it started to bother me and I became uncomfortable with it. Chow and Alan just became sad figures, in my eyes at least. So many comments about the Wolf Pack bonding with each other, but the gay aspect is held up to ridicule. By the end I felt I was watching the wrong movie.
The oafish anti-Semitic joke and animal scenes didn't work for me either. None of it did really. It just wasn't funny.