The Hangover Part III Review: Have We Seen This Before?

Director: Todd Phillips

UK Release Date:24th May 2013

Running Time: 100 minutes

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianikis, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, John Goodman

Todd Phillips returns with the rest of the main cast for the third part in The Hangover film franchise.  Released only four years after the first, "The Hangover" (2009) and two years after the second, "The Hangover Part II" (2011), "The Hangover Part III" (2013) hit the big screen with the tag line 'It all ends.'  We could not be more relieved and that's coming from people who found the film easy enough to watch.

How many times can you tell the same story, with the same characters and still make a movie out of it? Well, so far it has been three.  Although this third installment does not follow the usual bachelor party and everything going wrong plot, it does follow the same principles. After the initial success of "The Hangover" the films that have followed have never lived up to the standard set by the first.  They are still enjoyable films to watch but are rather predictable and boring.  Unfortunately for us, the first film was too good, it was new, something we had not seen before and each film since has been a repeat of some sort of the first. It is a shame as we do like the cast and director and think that together they could have taken the film is a slightly different direction from the first to make it more successful rather than reusing the story in a different setting over and over again.

The film itself provided a couple of laughs.  It was nowhere near as funny as the first but we did prefer it over the second.  This film relied heavily on Ken Jeong's character, Leslie Chow, who became more of a prominent figure but again he did not have the same inspired effect that he had in the first.  This time we saw the introduction of a character called Marshall, played by John Goodman.  It was good to see another well-known actor but it was nothing that really changed the film that much.  One character that we did enjoy and would have liked to see more of was Cassie. She was played by Melissa McCarthy and became Alan's love interest albeit nearer the end of the film and only held a very minor role.

"The Hangover Part III" is an okay film but if you have seen the previous two it will leave you asking, 'Have I seen this before?'  You will still enjoy it but do not expect to be wowed or knocked off your seat with laughter.  The end of the film also sets itself up for a fourth film but unless something drastically changes from the usual storyline we can see it being another disappointing sequel.  It is an average film with few comedic moments but can still be enjoyed and if you have nothing else to watch then it is definitely worth putting on one afternoon.

M+F Rating: 6/10

Reviewed by M+F Reviews.