Hangover Part III

Oh well... I wanted so badly to enjoy this film, I was actually willing to give it a chance, a real go, I went in completely prepared for a good old belly laugh. This film was not funny. What a waste!

So the first Hangover, was actually genuinely quite funny, mostly because of the bizarre situation the gang found themselves in, tiger in the bathroom? Random chicken just hanging out? Baby in the closet? Missing incisor? Good. All of these ridiculous things blended together to create a fun adventure through Las Vegas, plus the unfortunate destruction of a really nice car. I'll grant you, the end was beyond ridiculous, sure we knew the guys were idiotic and prone to playing cruel tricks, also we had the infamous Jagermeister shots on the roof... and the mattress was chucked off the roof randomly, but seriously give the audience something more!! Maybe... Actually I take it all back, it was a pretty tightly plotted, dare I say, almost clever film? It actually maintained mystery throughout of where Doug was, and what the hell happened the night before; each scene addresses either of these mysteries throughout the film, also with a decent slew of jokes to keep us laughing. It was good! It was funny!

So the second Hangover came along, essentially a carbon copy of the previous one pandering to the public's want for more drunken shenanigans - well Hollywood's desire to cash in, also it was set in Bangkok. Everything that made the previous film funny, the shock factor, the waking up and tracing your steps through a previous night of debauchery, were all gone, the jokes were less funny, everything was just, not that good.

Now we have Hangover Part III, gone are the waking up the morning after and retracing our steps, instead there is a convoluted plot involving Chang and some gold bullion oh and John Goodman. I admire the fact that they tried something new, and in theory it did actually sound funny. But in practise, it just played out... Damn, it was just boring. This is one of those films in which the trailer does everything for you. In the trailer, the biggest laughs are essentially given away, it's quicker, and it looks halfway decent and a whole lot of fun. What instead you get is... Well a long film posing as a comedy trying to make you laugh with jokes which are painfully unfunny. What is unseen in this film is actually funnier.

For example: (Here be spoilers) In the trailer we see Alan driving along with his giraffe in the trailer about to meet it's inevitable doom. But the trailer cuts the scene together much better and quicker, Alan waves at a kid, drinking a beer, says he bought a giraffe, he's the happiest chap alive, cue to giraffe seeing the bridge, then a pile up, cut to Alan making a mildly irritated smile, aw shucks. It actually took longer to write this than see it. In the film it just takes too long, they drag it out and there is literally no need to see a decapitated giraffe, how would that even work? The scene was way funnier in the trailers because of the fact we didn't see the soaring head, and had to watch the whole scene play out, also our imaginations filled in the gaps and that's the funny part.

Another example of not needing to see things, Alan's romance. Completely superfluous. Oh no wait, that's the whole point of the story, Alan will become a normal human being, will be less of an arse, if he gets a girlfriend? Really? That's what we've learnt from all this? Really? Really!?!

Another example of not needing to see things: note, the whole film.

Seriously though, let me just talk about Alan. Are we expected to sympathise with this guy? Because he is a pretty repulsive guy, sure in the first film, just a bit deranged, the second too... They all do and say some pretty terrible things but this time around Alan is just extremely irritating rather than humorous. If the writing is sending flags it's that his parents indulged him for too long, clearly he has some un-addressed issues, but does that give him any excuse? And what? The whole cure to his life long insanity is to have a girlfriend? Wait am I being too harsh... Nope. I'm not. It's stupid. Have I lost the light in my eyes? Shouldn't I just be happy that Alan is happy? Doesn't he deserve a bit of happiness? Hmmm, well... No. Because did I mention this film was boring?

This is completely down to the plot. The idea of sending Alan to a funny farm and getting intercepted by some cons along the way is a funny one. The execution? Not so much. How little I cared that they were all connected to the previous insanity, sorry Black Doug, sorry John Goodman. Then the ensuing plot just felt like an escalation, but not in a funny way, it was just a shapeless mass of moving around and not really getting anywhere, mainly because you knew any situation the trio got into would be solved to some degree because, hey there's another hour of film to go, god help me. You knew they'd all be fine, therefore not an ounce of drama, or an inch to care about. It's blatantly obvious regardless of what happens in-between there would be a happy ending, a completely unearned one.

Bradley Cooper, I love you, but get out. Ed Helms, with those glasses you almost look hotter than Bradley Cooper, especially with that sweaty shirt, I ogled the pair of you for lack of anything else to do, go figure, it was more fun.

The funniest part for me, was Chang singing 'I Believe I Can Fly' whilst floating along on a parachute. Another part completely ruined by the trailers. Why did that make me laugh and not the line about cocaine? (I know, haha line.) Because it was actually funny and not at someone's expense, it was just him having a strangely good time. Bah! I don't want comedy where everyone just hugs and gets along, I love black humour, tar black. This wasn't that, it was just people trying to be funny by saying cruel things, oh and a whole mess of gay jokes. Because that's funny. I can't describe how unfunny this film was, it's irritating.

Basically, watch the trailer, do not waste your precious time watching this film; you would basically being indulging a bunch of spoilt little boys.

*I am aware that Ken Jeong's character is actually called Mr Chow in this film, he will always be Chang to me. The guy is Korean and making a name for himself playing Chinese characters, Hollywood.