Review
This chaos is finally over! But, before I give my final wrap of the hole trilogy, here’s what I wrote about the first two:
I just saw #2 and am left with some hard-to-take disappointment. I feel like it’s betrayal to say anything bad about The Hangover in any way, but, I do have some bad things to say. Let me start with the good things…
The people who thought up this story are nuts, of course. It’s crazy to encase that much chaos in one event – and I mean it in both ways – THIS the movie and THAT a wedding. The way the characters push each others buttons is so authentic, yet, so outrageous. It was fresh hell in #1, but, just hell in #2. Which brings me to the disconnect…
The story made no progress. It didn’t really deviate or divert either. It was the same exact formula, repeated. Now, it was a great formula to begin with, but, seeing it over again in almost the same application ruined it for the first go-round. #2 made it seem like the producers were just looking to cash in on the same movie in disguise. Like one of the characters was wearing a fake nose and we were all supposed to believe he was someone else.
And, now that we know the credits will roll and reveal all of the crazy antics that actually took place, that’s all we really needed to see to GET IT. I found myself thinking, “Let’s move along, let’s move along… Get to what really happened…”
Sad. I mean, sequels are tortured artists hoping for acceptance, but, often get rejected. This sequel had so much potential, but, seemed to fall back on its laurels to failure.
My suggestion is a do-over. A final chapter to redeem themselves for not showing much effort in #2. Take as much time as they need to come up with a way to treat the formula – which is a good one – in a way that advances the stories and in this case, wraps up the franchise.
Some advice: RENT #1 and #2 on DVD, watch the endings of them first, then go back and sit through the marathon. That might actually make them equally entertaining. Let me know how that works out…
Now here’s my review for the final installment:
Story: It was much better this time. The writers realized the error of their ways repeating the same formula exactly and just went another direction. All the same characters, but, a new story. Excellent. They must have read my previous review. 🙂
The producers have even gone out of their way to say definitively that this is the last installment. Maybe they closed the door but they left it unlocked. They didn’t do the montage of what really happened at the end this time, but, it would have worked given the last scene. In fact, its exactly what they should have done this time.
Performances: Nothing to speak of. Like before, the stand-outs are Zach Galifianakis and Dr. Ken. Both as wacky as ever. Melissa McCarthy was hilarious and exactly the right addition to wrap up the franchise. The other guys in the wolfpack are their usual supporting-character-selves. But, I do have one question… Why was Justin Bartha’s character always the one missing?
Visual: Again, nothing to speak of. I think the producers just wanted to redeem themselves from #2, so, they didn’t go overboard with locations this time. It started in Thailand briefly, where it left off – then to California, Mexico and Las Vegas. West coast living…
Rating: #3 gets a B; #1 got an A+ and #2 got a C-, which should round out the rating for the whole trilogy at a solid B. Worth seeing in the theatre – definitely see it on DVD if you saw the first two.
I’m glad the producers decided to make it a trilogy and call it a day. Figuring out how not to ruin the value of the original seemed too much to deal with. But, I did find myself wishing I knew what came of the story in the last scene. THOUGHT: No more Hangover movies, but, maybe a movie about Zach Galifianakis’ character???
Wish for it…
