Few movies have launched themselves into the pop culture lexicon with as much force and unapologetic brashness as The Hangover did in 2009. Offensive, hilarious and endlessly quotable (“Not at the table, Carlos.”), the movie shifted the already rising careers of its three stars – Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis – into overdrive and turned director Todd Phillips into a celebrity himself. With a concept not much more complicated than Dude, Where’s My Car?, Phillips used the most basic of story structures to allow his actors to flex their comedic talent.
The inevitable sequel, The Hangover Part II, was rushed into theaters and the resulting product bore this fact out. Essentially the entire plot was re-hashed with only a change of location serving as new ground. Now, Phillips has completed his trilogy with The Hangover Part III which doesn’t come close to matching the original film in terms of pure hilarity and inventiveness, but at least makes audiences temporarily forget that Part II ever happened.
While the character of Alan (Galifianakis) was an unexpected pot of comedy gold in the first movie, his overexposure detracted from his appeal in the sequel. Now, Alan is center stage as the movie focuses mainly on his growth as a person after the death of his father (Jeffrey Tambor). Phil (Cooper), Stu (Helms) and Doug (Justin Bartha) agree to accompany Alan to a sort of life rehab center called New Horizons which is located in Arizona. Alan is reluctant at first, but with the support of the Wolfpack he acquiesces and agrees to go willingly.
On the way, the guys are ambushed by Marshall (John Goodman), a scary, drug kingpin-looking dude with a short temper and penchant for 70s-style sunglasses. It turns out, Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) recently escaped from a prison in Thailand and made off with $21 million in gold bars that belonged to Marshall. Since the Wolfpack set in motion a series of events that led to Chow stealing his gold, Marshall figures they should be responsible for recovering his money. He takes Doug hostage as collateral and tells Phil, Stu and Alan they have three days to find Chow and his money or he’ll kill Doug.
Credit must be given to Phillips for a number of reasons. First, he (smartly) refuses to play the the-guys-get-drugged-and-don’t-remember-anything-and-have-to-follow-the-clues card he’s played twice before. Instead, he and co-writer Craig Mazin fashion an original story for the characters that feels much more organic than what we saw in Part II.
Secondly, over the course of these three films, Phillips has matured as a filmmaker, both technically and emotionally, and Part III hints that he may be capable of much more as a director. In the first film, Phillips essentially just let the camera roll and allowed the actors to improvise in order to come up with the funniest lines. Now, though, he is experimenting with various camera movements to heighten emotion or tension, adding a bit more weight to the movie. He also includes several beautifully composed shots of the Arizona desert and Chow’s Mexican villa that show he does in fact have a sense of how to expand a movie’s scope. It’s possible we could see something completely different from Phillips in just a few years’ time.
Of course, the real joy of any Hangover movie is Cooper, Helms and Galifianakis. Cooper is much more playful than he has been in the past, mostly because Phil has finally stopped questioning Alan’s peculiarities. Helms’ high-pitched screech is on full display again, but his real charm comes in the moments of utter despair that wash over Stu’s face again and again throughout the movie. While the Alan character is essentially just Galifianakis being Galifianakis, that shouldn’t underemphasize the difficultly of giving what is always one of the best comedic performances in any year. Phillips tries to give Alan a more well-rounded story in Part III – including an uncomfortable flirtation with a pawn shop owner played by Melissa McCarthy – but it never fully connects. Again, though, just the attempt at something new or different is praiseworthy considering the strict Hollywood expectations to which Phillips was likely told to adhere.
No movie will ever match the boldness of The Hangover and to try would be futile. The Hangover Part III is a worthy successor and conclusion to the trilogy which is the most we can hope for.
Grade: B-
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