★★★☆☆

<Review by: Sailesh Ghelani>

Directed by Todd Phillips. Starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, John Goodman, Melissa McCarthy, Jeffrey Tambor, Heather Graham, Mike Epps

It’s strange the way this film has been lambasted by critics as if the first two (The Hangover 2 review) were classic gems of moviemaking. I found The Hangover part III to be bearable and even funny at points and so did the packed theatre.

Our Wolf Pack is back after two big adventures. Of course now most of them are married and it’s time for Alan (Zach Galifianakis) to pull up his socks, get some help and grow up. His buddies Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Doug (Justin Bartha) stage an intervention but that soon turns into another adventure for the gang who must capture and also help out their old, foul-mouthed, goon buddy Mr Chow (Ken Jeong).

Just getting out of a battle with The National Sports Club of India management who displaced (or worse) some stray dogs on their premises, I saw the trailer of The Hangover 3 with it’s ‘animal abuse’ and thought I’d be disgusted. Yes I was, but then I know it is also an attempt at showing an extreme to make you laugh. Like they do in horror films where you get so scared you jump from your seat and then you chuckle. Of course, we should all be against animal cruelty, and that’s my piece on that.

If you’ve seen the last two Hangover films you know what to expect. ‘Fuck you bitches’ and various other regular expletives from Mr Chow. But you know he can pull them all off with his particular accent and voice and his mousy face contortions. He’s actually simply brilliant as this character and the interplay with Alan makes for some wonderfully wicked and touching scenes.

Justin Bartha is kidnapped (and consequently doesn’t have much screen time yet again) by another baddie Marshall (John Goodman) who wants Mr Chow who stole half of his gold bullion years ago and it’s upto the Wolf Pack to do the dirty work. Half way through the film they have to pull of a heist that leads to a great twist that you definitely won’t see coming.

Sure the film isn’t hilarious and yes it’s good the filmmakers know to make it the last in the series. They’ve tried to infuse some emotion into it. They’ve tried to give it a better plot. In part, they’ve succeeded. The audience laughed and cheered. It’s no great cinema but if you’re weary and tired with the world and you need a break then it provides a decent enough getaway while you’re watching it.

 

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