The Hangover, Part III

Back in 2007, screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore pitched director Todd Phillips a script called What Happens in Vegas—a raunchy comedy about a bizarre bachelor party in which the groom went missing. Re-titled The Hangover, the film—starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis—cost about $35 million to make and went on to gross $461 million worldwide, leading to an inevitable sequel that raked in a record-shattering $581 million. While not quite as profitable, The Hangover, Part III still did $351 million in global box office. Here, nobody wakes up, having forgotten what happened; instead, spoiled, self-centered Alan (Galifianakis) is off his meds, and friends Stu (Helms) and Phil (Cooper) are taking him to an Arizona psychiatric/rehab facility when they're ambushed. Alan's brother-in-law, Doug (Justin Bartha), is kidnapped by menacing mobster Marshall (John Goodman) and his gang, which includes Black Doug (Mike Epps), who holds the Wolfpack responsible for millions in gold ingots stolen by Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong), an obnoxious, trash-talking Asian gangster. So hapless Doug is held hostage until Mr. Chow can be brought to justice. After trekking to Tijuana, they wind up back in Vegas, where they run into stripper pal Jade (Heather Graham), and Alan falls in love with a surly pawnshop clerk (Melissa McCarthy). Screenwriter/director Phillips juggles genres in a tepid rehash of gross, stale material that is no longer amusing (not even the smoking monkey), as the moronic plot revolves around clueless man-child Alan and stereotypically mean-spirited Mr. Chow. An optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include outtakes (8 min.), a “Replacing Zach: The Secret Auditions” spoof featurette (6 min.), extended scenes (2 min.), a brief “Action Mash-Up,” and the production segments “The Wolfpack's Wildest Stunts” (5 min.), “Inside Focus: The Real Chow” with costar Ken Jeong (5 min.), “Pushing the Limit” (4 min.), and “Zach Galifianakis In His Own Words” (3 min.), as well as a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a bonus DVD copy of the film. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a diminishing-returns sequel.] (S. Granger)