The Hangover: Part III (2013)

Dave’s 3-Word Review:
They changed things

When it comes to movies like this, you really don’t know what to expect. The first two Hangover films made people contort their faces at the thought of yet another film coming out. It made no sense, they literally did the same exact thing twice, right down to the scene progression and lines spoken. The only difference was the location, but that wasn’t enough to save it. Of course there had to be a third one, what series do you know of now that only has two movies in the series? It’s usually only one movie, or three. That’s just how it’s done nowadays, movies are made in threes. So the real question is…have we already seen The Hangover: Part Three in a sense? We have seen the Wolf Pack do the same thing twice already, is there a point to see a third film? The basic answer to that is…yes, because it’s not the same thing as the other two, not at all. That may also be a bad thing to some people.

The Wolf Pack is back and is arguably better than ever. When Marshall (John Goodman) tracks them down, he informs them that Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) has stolen roughly $20 million dollars in bars of gold from him, and he needs the Wolf Pack to find Mr. Chow and retrieve his money. For incentive, he kidnaps Doug (Justin Bartha) and sends them on their way. The Wolf Pack must use their innate teamwork to track down that little Chinese man once and for all, and finally finish this story.

It’s time to unleash the elephant in the room. Everyone is talking about it, so it is impossible to ignore – this is a hangover movie with no hangover. That’s right, the unique aspect that really made these characters lovable has been completely removed in this installment. The unknown element from the hangover is what made everything so hilarious. An entire night, gone. At the same time, though (and this is what I want you to pay attention to) the hangover part of second film was its downfall. You can only do the same thing so many times. The real reason why we love these films is because the characters are so unique and work so well together. The rest is kind of wrapped around the idea that these characters are hilarious. So I’m about to say it. I like the fact that they didn’t have a hangover. It feels weird at first, obviously because of the title, but I honestly think it finally brought something new to the table, as if this was what The Hangover: Part II was supposed to be.

That being said, we have a checklist of what makes a Hangover film a Hangover film. First, there is usually a hangover (duh), next, Doug is left out of the loop – check here, it has an element of a crazy adventure – check, there is some kind of animal involved – check, the roof of a building plays a part – check, a stripper plays a part – check, Mike Tyson – no check here, and a naked Chow – no check here, but those last two check marks I think are fine with the movie not having. So the only thing missing in the movie is the hangover, and you know what? By not having a hangover, the movie finally feels like a new movie, but still in the same series. That’s why I liked it, there may have not been a hangover, but there was still something that the gang was looking for, and going through clues to find it. I don’t know why everyone is complaining about this.

I can honestly say that I liked this movie loads better than The Hangover: Part II. I believe it had a lot more to bring to the table, and it did so in an interesting manner. They made sure that this was the final piece to the puzzle and everyone had an ending to their story, all of which we can be satisfied with. I am happy with the series, I think they did a splendid job.

The Hangover: Part III came to theaters on May 23! Check it out today!