The Hangover Part III (2013) * 1/2

Directed by:  Todd Phillips

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

The plot:   The Hangover guys are at it again, this time tracking down their old frenemy Chow to deliver him to a mobster he stole from.   

With the exception of a brief scene shown during the closing credits, there is no hangover in The Hangover Part III.     Part II was pretty much The Hangover set in Thailand and it was so lame that I wrote as the last sentence of my review, "Please don't call me if there is a Hangover III."   Well, there is and I watched it.    It is only slightly better than Part II, but that's faint praise.   Judging by the lack of energy some of the actors exude here, a Hangover 4 is not in anyone's plans.  

The last two Hangover films allowed the two most annoying characters to take center stage:   Alan (Galifianakis) and Chow (Jeong).    Both are nearly unbearable.    We almost wish the fate of the poor giraffe Alan is proudly driving home on the freeway would befall one or both of them, but alas they are in for the long haul.      Much of the humor is aimed at killing animals or Alan and Chow's homosexual tendencies.     When a pawn shop owner (Melissa McCarthy) arrives later in the movie and becomes Alan's love interest, we can scarcely believe it.     Alan has just spent three-quarters of the movie making passes at Phil (Cooper), who is as disinterested in that as he is mostly everything else in the film.   It came as little shock that Cooper was paid $15 million plus back end profits to start in this film.   It may take twice as much for him to come back for a fourth installment.

The Hangover Part III plays more like an action thriller than a continuation of the story, which really didn't need to be done anyway.     The original Hangover was a self-contained comedy that didn't require sequels, but box-office receipts and studio execs seeing dollar signs thought otherwise.     What we have is here is tired and predictable.     There is maybe one chuckle in the movie, which I think Alan delivered in his eulogy to his father.   I think I chuckled anyway.

The guy I really feel sorry for is Doug (Bartha), who is the kidnap victim of mobster Marshall (Goodman) as insurance the guys will deliver Chow to him.   In all three films, he has to wait on the sidelines off screen while everyone else gets in on the fun.   Then again, he doesn't have to appear on screen that much, so maybe it's a blessing.   Marshall's rationale for targeting the Wolfpack (ugh) is that they brought Chow into his world so they must be held accountable for him.   I'm starting to feel the same way about the original Hangover.