The Hangover Part III
(2013)
While it made a huge wad of cash, the
second Hangover movie roundly took a
beating from critics (and had a mixed reception from audiences). It was
virtually the same as the first one, they decried. Presumably Todd Phillips was
listening, which is why he eschews the (surely essential?) memory-defective
structure in favour of something more linear. And more run-of-the-mill. The
response wasn’t good; it took $200m less than its predecessor worldwide. And I
can quite see why. Part III may not
be a terrible movie but crucially
neither is it a terribly funny one.
For my part, I rather like Part II. I’m not sure why rehashing the
premise of the original was considered such a cardinal crime (since most
sequels are guilty of the same), and the picture zips along crudely and colourfully.
I was unconcerned that the characters weren’t likable; my only demand was for
the film to be funny, which it was. So the complaints about the general air of
unpleasantness and misanthropy were rather lost on me. It seemed no more
offensive than the average US R-rated comedy, and the unsympathetic nature of
the Wolf Pack (Alan – Zach Galifianakis, Phil – Bradley Cooper, and Stu – Ed
Helms) felt more like a debauched spin on the “learn nothing” premise of Seinfeld than a portend of the downfall
of western civilisation.
Part
III, shorn of its morning-after set up, has to cast about
for another motor to drive its plot. So Phillips and co-writer Craig Mazin turn
to perceived audience favourite Mr Chow (Ken Jeong). He busts out of a Thai prison,
and goes to ground. Crime lord Marshall (John Goodman) is out to get even with
Chow, and demands that the Wolf Pack track him down. Doug (Justin Bartha) is held
hostage as leverage (so keeping Bartha off screen for most of the movie is
retained at least).
Chow’s role in Part II was beefed up, and here he is virtually a fourth member of
the Pack. Unfortunately Chow requires decent scenarios if he’s not to become merely
a shrill annoyance. There are occasional moments (singing Johnny Cash’s version
of Hurt, screaming “I love cocaine” while paragliding, and a
cut to him gleefully exclaiming “I’m out
of my fucking mind”, just after the Wolf Pack have observed the same thing).
Galifianakis’ shtick is wearing a bit
thin by this point also, and his attempts at humour fall mostly flat. Which sort of works in terms of the film’s bleak
starting position (following the giraffe incident seen in the trailer, and his
father’s death, an intervention is staged; the plan is to take Alan to a rehab
facility). But the gags he is given are
just lousy (he has a beautiful singing voice). It’s only when Alan meets Cassie
(Melissa McCarthy) that Phillips and Mazin find something distinctive for the
beardy-weirdy to do, even if the of whacky peas-in-a-pod soul mates subplot is desperately
unoriginal.
Cooper and Helms barely register, with
the latter’s antagonism towards Alan soon dropped (likewise, the theme that
they don’t even really give a shit about Alan seems to have been forgotten by
time of the end credits sequence). The former spends his time looking studly
and not much else. The attempt to evoke the spirit of the previous movies by
featuring an actual hangover during the end credits may barely justify the
picture’s title, but it’s has a dreadfully weak “Look what they did this time!”
punch line. If that’s the kind of comedy gold they had in reserve, it’s just as
well Part III is played mostly
straight.
Talking of which, what a complete waste
of John Goodman. He’s a brilliantly funny actor so they stick him playing a
sullen heavy? It’s nice to see the lovely Heather Graham again, but she only
appears for five minutes. And well done
for not finding a place for Mike Tyson (my ears still haven’t recovered from
the assault he committed at the end of Part
II).
Nevertheless, while I wish they hadn’t
gone the route of making a crime picture, the picture itself isn’t
unwatchable. Nor does it outstay its
welcome; Phillips has kept each of his pictures around the 100-minute mark, and
this is no exception. It’s probably the maximum length you want for a comedy
(although, as I’ve said, this isn’t really a comedy... ) Phillips also continues
to strive against the point-and-shoot approach found in most comedies. The Hangovers are some of the best
looking US comedies around, and the director is consistently visually inventive;
he needs to be, as the return to Las Vegas rather inhibits the possibilities
(he really shone with the Thai locations in Part
II).
So The Hangover Part III takes out the
jokes that were the main attraction of the comedy
franchise, and it even bypasses the titular physical state during the film
proper. The characters have little place left to go, and the focus on Chow is a
mistake in as much as it further accentuates these shortcomings. Whatever
Phillips did, the critics were going to hate this movie, so it’s a shame he was
so stung by Part II’s reception that
he threw out the baby with the bath water. Perhaps he just wasn’t inspired to
be funny. It’s hard to say if Part III would have been a bigger hit if
it had repeated the formula; I know I’d
have been happier, but audiences just weren’t there on opening weekend Perhaps
it’s a case where the success of Part II
didn’t reflect how it ultimately went down (see also Shrek 2 and Dead Man’s Chest).
Or perhaps the public saw the ads and rightly decided the title was a great big
fib.
**1/2
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