The Hangover Part III - Review

After the death of Alan and Tracy's father, The Wolfpack stages an intervention for Alan only to be abducted by a Las Vegas crime lord and led on a wild goose chase to find Mr. Chow in The Hangover Part III.


I was incredibly nervous for Part III for the sheer fact that... well, Part II was horrible. It was nothing but Todd Phillips trying to recreate the first movie in a different city and it didn't work one bit. Part III on the other hand is its own movie and I appreciated that. Of course there were references and there were returning characters and that was great, but it didn't try to just recreate what the first movie had. I think they finally realized that it is impossible to have another Hangover.

As far as humor goes, it was there but it wasn't overbearing and it wasn't just dumb luck. There were no accidental roofies, no missing persons other than Chow (but that is a given), and things were a bit more serious. Don't get me wrong it was funny, but it wasn't on the same level. The desperation to create situations and jokes to surpass the first movie wasn't as apparent to me and I liked that. There were a couple parts that cracked me up for sure.
I also liked how the return to Vegas was not a happy event for Stu, Phil, Doug, and Alan. They were doing what they thought they had to do and that was it. There was no time for pleasantries or accidents.

I know most reviews so far have deemed this one the "darkest" or whatever, but I wouldn't necessarily use the term. I would refer to it more as more down to business. They didn't use cheap distractions to get laughs and there was no appearance by a famous person playing themselves to make the audience go "wow!" It knew what it wanted to be and it got to it. I appreciate the hell out of that, especially for a Hangover movie.
Without ruining the movie I will say that I did enjoy it and that anyone going in who is a Hangover fan will probably appreciate what they did with this one. Just remember that The Hangover Part III is Alan's movie. Stu, Doug, and Phil are more supporting characters in this one. It was about getting Alan well and that is truly what they tried to do. That's all I'm going to say. Solid effort from Todd Phillips and a good conclusion to this trilogy.

At least I hope it truly was the conclusion.