MOVIE REVIEW - The Hangover 3

The first Hangover movie was an R-rated, guilty pleasure, adult comedy that gave us a bunch of big laughs. Mostly at ourselves as it put us right there in Vegas showing exaggerated versions of us, and our visions of a Vegas trip gone wrong. 

I wasn't so sure the second movie was a good idea, and it wasn't.  As it was the exact same movie almost right down the line, just not near as funny.   Hangover 3,  will be better received than 2, but it is laden with problems.  Oh, there are some laughs here and there. But in the end, this is far darker, less innocent, and really lacking of any kind of movie making passion.

In this final installment, our four friends are back, but this time they are begin threatened by organized crime who is claiming that one of their acquaintances has made off with 21 million dollars worth of stolen gold.  So they kidnap one of them, and give the other three, three days to go out and locate the guy, and bring his gold back to them, or they will kill their friend.  The road trip then goes from California, to Arizona, to Tijuana, then back to Vegas.   As we sit and watch all the hi jinx along the way.

The test audiences must has said that they want more Allen (Zach Galifianakis) in this movie, because much of this if focused on him, and his shtick.  And being honest,  Allen was far funnier when he was a side dish as opposed to a main course.  Our other principles Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Stu (Ed Helms) are really relegated to the background by and large in this movie.  Also, Mr. Chow  (Ken Jeong) is back in a major role and is a main focus of this story.   Much of what this movie looks like is Helms and Cooper standing round watching Allen and Mr. Chow make a movie.   Much of this really looks badly mailed in.  Can I have my check and my release, please?

But some of this is understandable. Helms has moved on beyond this series, and has been pretty darn good in some really funny and original Indy pics.  And Cooper frankly,  is Hollywood's new leading man, and has grown far, and I mean far beyond this franchise.   He now looks like a huge star out of place in a slap-stick, R-rated comedy, when in essence now he is so much more.  This is not 5 years ago, things have changed. This does have some real laughs in places, but really lacks the passion of the first one especially.  

There are some new friends, John Goodman, and Melissa McCarthy make appearances in this movie, and some of the old cast is back for small goodbye roles.  But all of that doesn't matter.  This just lays there and doesn't move much.   But as big of a hit as this will be, in the end, the final two installments will pale terribly in comparison to the original Hangover, which was very funny.

Helms and Cooper look done in this movie, and they more than likely will be.  But the door is wide open for Allan (Galifianakis) and McCarthy to move on in some form and make more movies together in these characters, as projects may be more limited for them up the line.  They end up together here, but you'll figure that out halfway through.  Would not surprise me for them take an ill-advised movie making press-on in these characters.

The Hangover 3.    It's here.  It's more than likely a hit.  And thankfully,  it's over.