The finale of 2009’s 10th top grossing movie in the world, The Hangover, is back with more hilarious antics, more outlandish character, sand more, well, drugs. Through it all, our heroes stay surprisingly sober despite the movie’s title, no doubt terrified of what else will transpire when they hit the bottle.

Fans disappointed with The Hangover 2 storyline will be glad to hear that The Hangover 3 is nothing like its previous instalment, which wore the bachelor-party-gone-wrong story thin. This time, the plot’s much better and not at the expense of the laughs either.

The movie starts out in an exaggerated slow motion, where Chow makes his dramatic escape from a Thai prison, warming us up to the tone of the movie – pretty dark, yet inexplicably bringing us a huge laugh.

It’s been 2 years since the wolf pack last heard from Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong) who was captured in the previous Hangover. Meanwhile, Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Doug (Justin Bartha) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) are glad for their humdrum lives, thinking that their surreal misadventures are behind them. That is, until they meet again at Alan’s father’s funeral.

When the guys discover that Alan stopped taking his ADHD medication, they try to persuade him to seek help before he goes berserk. En route to checking him into a rehab facility in Arizona- the foursome are rear-ended by a mob. Their leader, Marshall (John Goodman), was robbed of $21 million worth of gold and Chow was –expectedly- guilty as charged. Forced into action by the threat to Doug’s life, the group sets out on a manhunt for the elusive Chow.

The Hangover 3 isn’t only different in terms of its storyline. For starters, (brace yourselves) nobody’s close to being hungover. I vaguely remember myself thinking – the movie should really be called Sober 1. But despite the hilarity centering on the hung over antics of the confused men in the previous 2 movies, the cast manage to tickle your funny bones without having to pull a cork off any bottle.

The cast entertains us with 100 minutes worth of hilarious campy action where it all began, Las Vegas. As the saying goes, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Part 3 has all eyes on Alan, our wacky bearded friend, who continues to amuse us with his awkward lack of societal norms, including unexpectedly taking a ‘selfie’ at his father’s funeral… but well, that’s Alan for you. A beautiful and elegant turn from Alan’s usually hyperactive behaviour, it was the sheer genius of Director Todd Phillips that Alan sang “Ave Maria” in a high register for the funeral.

Taking centre stage to Alan’s coming of age was Chow as he got sides splitting with his crude humour. Parachuting down the now the famous Caesars Palace singing “I Believe I Can Fly” with his thick Asian accent accompanied, he got the theatre choking on their laughter.

A new addition to the Hangover 3 is the outlandish character Cassie, played by Melissa McCarthy. In a creepy yet comical sharing of sharing a lollipop with each other, Cassie and Alan develop an almost disturbingly intense chemistry.

However not all humour was appreciated in The Hangover 3, especially not by animal lovers who were rather upset at the bad taste of abusing animals. No actual animals were harmed in the making of the film, but the violence against them to forcefully create comedy was aplenty.  Criticised for the decapitation of a giraffe, the suffocation of a chicken, and the killing two guard dogs, some audience members found it too morbid and distasteful.

Phillips was smart to end the franchise at its peak. Other than knowing that the characters couldn’t go any further, the movie itself was starting to lose popularity. Despite The Hangover 3 opening a day earlier to avoid a head-on collision with Fast & Furious 6, it sadly dropped to a distant second in the US box office. Hardcore fans of the franchise were, however, still supportive of the return of the third instalment.

And with this, the final part of The Hangover franchise wraps up with the wolf pack’s final walk down the hallway. Although The Hangover 3 fell short of its expectations, the finale was an emotional closure as it flashed back to scenes from the previous hangovers. Where they walked towards trouble before, this time, the four now walk towards a new beginning. Although most would say that the final part of The Hangover was a little short on laughs, it was an inevitable closure as it answered Alan’s question: Haven’t you learnt anything? And it seems like they have… that is, until you reach the end credits.

Despite the underwhelming response by critics for its lack of laughter and crude execution of comedy, the audience in Singapore were responsive and chuckled their way through the film.

 

Rating: 3.5/5

Release Date: May 30

Runtime: 1hr 40mins

Language: English

Censorship Rating: M18

Genre: Comedy

Director: Todd Phillips

Main Actors: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong