The Hangover III

I have waited to watch this one for awhile, enjoying the first two installments of the movie and had high expectations from the finale.  After all the effort put into this movie franchise I was expecting the "wolf pack" to go out with a bang.  Unfortunately they ended up with more than a fizzle instead.  I have to admit that I was sadly disappointed by this movie. 

In case you know nothing of the Hangover Movie series I don't want to ruin it for you, but let me give you a little bit of background knowledge.  The Hangover is a comedy film, and this is the third and final film in the trilogy.  The first film was based around waking up from a night of  a bachelor party and not remembering anything, trying to piece together the memories.  The second film featured the wedding and having memories to piece together, so when this film came around I had certain hilarious expectations.  This film is featured around the Wolf Pack as they try to get help for Alan (Zach Galifianakis) after he is faced with a personal crisis.  They end up on a road trip heading for a treatment center, but end up having to face past events from the original Hangover movie. 

There are a lot of great actors in this film:

Phil-played by Bradley Cooper: (Silver Linings Playbook, Limitless, Alias, American Hustle)
Stu-Played by Ed Helms (The Office, We're The Millers, Children's Hospital, Semi-Pro)
Alan-played by Zach Galifianakis (Due Date, The Campaign, Dinner for Schmucks, The Muppets)
Doug- played by Justin Bartha (National Treasure, The New Normal, The Rebound, Dark Horse)
Chow- played by Ken Jeong (Community, Turbo, Zookeeper, American Dad, MadTV)
Marshall-played by John Goodman (Roseanne, Monsters, Inc., Argo, Big Lebowski, Alpha House)
Cassie-played by Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids, Mike & Molly, Heat, Gilmore Girls)
Jade-played by Heather Graham (Boogie Nights, From Hell, Emily's Reasons Why Not, Scrubs)
Black Doug-played by Mike Epps (Lottery Ticket, Something New, Resident Evil, How High)

The Hangover III had the second biggest worldwide opening weekend for an R-Rated comedy, coming in only behind the Hangover II.  It ended up with total box office earnings of $362 million.  Most reviews of the film have been negative from critics.  The general consensus being that the film deviated from the story line of the first two films and gave nothing to replace the formula that made them so successful. 

I have to agree with the negative critics on this one.  The Hangover movies became famous and loved for the their backward story-telling and the drunken humor.  While this movie offered no backwards story telling, not even a flashback to the incident from the first film that is in question in this one.  There is no memory loss and not much be way of humor.  There is definitely a darker tone to this movie and it felt like it was rushed in creation when you watch it.  All of your favorite characters are there for you to see, but their personalities seem to be a lot drier and there isn't a lot of scenes worth really devoting your whole attention to, let alone allowing a chuckle to escape.  I think that drifting from the original flow to close the trilogy was a foul.   I give this move 2.5 out of 5 stars.  The only reason to watch it is so get a close to the story and to actually feel better about where Alan ends up in life.  The giraffe incident was just too awful even for me as an opening to the film and it sets the tone for how the rest of the movie will go.  The ending makes you wish that it had been the beginning to this movie instead.   That would have been much more enjoyable to watch.

The official movie website: Hangover Part III