I had high hopes...definitely time to say farewell.

Rating: 6/10 (4 October 2013)

The first Hangover is one of my favourite guilty pleasure comedies. It is the ultimate in hilarious, raunchy, buddy films and I thought a second one would likely be a disaster. Well, imagine my surprise when I felt like The Hangover 2 was as good as the original and another hilarious romp with the Wolf Pack. So I had high expectations for this third film. I thought if they managed to squeeze two great movies out of a one movie story then just maybe they could do it again. Well, I will give them an A for effort. I do think they honestly tried. But for the most part it feels like they lost focus of nearly every single thing that made the first two films so terrific. I'm not even sure where the comedy was to this third part. The film is incredibly dark compared to the first two. It is gritty and violent and almost disturbing and not in a shocking funny way. I felt like I was searching for somewhere to laugh and not finding it. It was depressing and twisted and didn't fit the tone of the film. The film practically opens with an animal being decapitated, the death of a character's father, a person is shot to death, someone has a serious drug problem, there is an intervention....and it seems to go on from there.
The three main guys in The Hangover had undeniable chemistry in the first two movies. They seemed to just completely embody these hilarious characters each with their own unique flare and quirks. Bradley Cooper has always been the leader of the pack and just the likable popular guy. In The Hangover 3 he seems almost dark and bored and almost looks depressed. He doesn't even have half the charisma he had previously and that is so unfortunate. Ed Helms who was always my favourite as the lovable dentist with the worst luck. Helms seems to have lost all that lovability and bickers with Zach Galifianakis in a really mean spirited way and I didn't like the chemistry between these three guys who previously were just so amazing together. Galifianakis returns as the iconic Alan, only this time he's off his meds (depressing), drug addicted (sad), and more psychotic than funny. Justin Bartha returns doing the same thing he did in the first films so he gets off easy. He's barely a supporting character and gets the same amount of lines as previously. John Goodman is our villain this time around and he's good. I mean Goodman is almost always good but man his character is dark. He shoots a guy dead in the chest and is a great mobster but he could easily be in an action flick. Ken Jeong also returns and I was always afraid they would overuse him in the first two films but they didn't. Well now they have rectified my fears and overused him. As much as I enjoy him in Community, he is obnoxious and just way too in your face in this third one. Watch for other returning cameos like Heather Graham, Mike Epps and Jeffrey Tambor. Melissa McCarthy also makes a cameo appearance in an okay role but nothing terrific.
The good news is that the film isn't a total disaster. There is some definite old school Hangover vibe to the scene where Alan and Phil break into the penthouse suite at Caesars Palace (easily the best scene in the film.) Todd Phillips returns to finish off his trilogy but I'm just really surprised he let the film go into such dark waters. Also in a bizarre turn of events there were a few scenes of blatant CGI that were done pretty poorly (the giraffe, a parachuting scene.) If I had to guess I would say that Phillips felt rushed to release this or even pressured by the studios. It was just missing so much of what made The Hangover the iconic comedy that it is. Certainly the best scenes were back in Vegas and the latter half of the film was so much better than the first (but still incredibly dark.) They tried to wrap up the series by making reference to previous adventures but it felt forced. This wasn't The Hangover and I was thoroughly disappointed in so many ways. If you're going to experience The Hangover then stick with the first two. The Hangover 3 was a DARK, TWISTED, and nearly depressing end to the trilogy. 6/10