The first iteration in The Hangover series came out but a few years ago, in 2009, and has since spawned two sequels in an absurdly short time. The thing is, it's not absurd anymore. This stuff happens all the time, and it's inevitably going to happen more often with popular, easier (re: cheaper) to produce films such as these. Piecing together a major sci-fi epic or super hero special effects demo reel like The Avengers takes a lot of resources, including logistics and processing time, and least of all (this is perhaps unfair) time spent on a good story.
Seemingly coming out of nowhere, the original Hangover was a pleasant surprise and entry in the comedy genre. It wasn't completely dumb. That is, to say, it had a great storytelling mechanic and presented some really great, morally ambiguous characters that were easy to cheer for but also easy to wish they would just fall on their faces and figuratively eat it. The Hangover allows us to take pleasure in their pain and laugh at their misfortune without feeling guilty or bad about ourselves. The film, while seemingly grounded in reality, ventures into the absurd fantasy enough that we can all lazily reach toward it. It represents a fairly modern-day 20 and 30-something year old male's fantasy of what Las Vegas has to offer: opulence, alcohol, drugs, women, Mike Tyson and ludicrous adventure. It's a solid consensus that we all enjoyed it.
In today's modern movie landscape, any successful movie will inevitably spawn a sequel. It's practically a law. In this case The Hangover managed to turn a $35 million investment into nearly half a billion dollars (worldwide). You can't pass up an investment opportunity like that, and all parties involved in the making of the film can't pass up the opportunity to for various reasons. In this case the sequel cost more than double the original but grossed just a fraction more.
It was doomed to fail, but fail it did not. People were against it - at the very least, in my social circle: it didn't warrant a sequel but we're all in the for the ride anyway. We missed it in theatres, which I swear was more out of rebellion than anything else. The sequel saw our group of fools repeat their adventure in Bangkok. The formula was the exact same: one of them is getting married, they're enjoying a bachelor party of sorts, and they all wake up the next morning with no memory of the night before. They find one of their own is missing, and they set out on an adventure to piece together the night before. If it worked the first time around, then it surely must work on the second, right?
Considering how well the movie did financially, I can't find anyone who actually liked it. One of the complaints is how rigidly it stuck to that formula: why not do something a little more original? But come on, people like the formula. They watch the same show every week in the form of CSI and any of those other countless shows. What really happened was that the film tried to masquerade as the formula but it was drastically different in unnerving subtlety. The first element was the city of Bangkok. Nobody watching this movie knows what it's like there or has an inkling to visit. It can't compare to Las Vegas, which is so heavily promoted and idolized as the dream getaway. Bangkok doesn't stand a chance. Our group wakes up in a premium suite in Caeser's Palace. In the sequel, they wake up in wretched hole in the wall in what looks like the slums. The Hangover Part II has a level of grittiness that you don't want a part of, so it makes you feel uncomfortable. Well, it did for me, at least. But that was part of the appeal. I felt like the stakes were raised even though I knew the ending well in advance - it was, after all the same plot.
The other element is how the film dismisses Doug, the groom in the first film. Well, somebody has to stay behind and he's the least known actor amongst them, so why not make him disappear in the second too? I can't help but think that if this movie was actually following that formula, it would have been forced to exile another. But, we're talking about the machine and we can't afford to lose one of our main stars for the duration of the film. Part II also focuses quite a bit Mr. Chow (in large part, I'm sure, because of his appeal from the first film). The first movie took us from absurd location to absurd location, loosely connected with clues that would bring us to a conclusion. Part II does a bit of the same but quickly leads us into an extended chase with and for Chow. Part III focuses 100% around Chow, and that's not where it differences end.
Part III diverges from the formula entirely in ways that must make everyone uncomfortably, because it was the lowest rated and made the least money but a couple hundred million (and cost more than the second as well). If they were criticized that Part II was too formulaic, they overcompensated and went way off path for the third and final installment. So far off the path that it wasn't enjoyable on nearly any level.
Now, instead of marriage bringing our group together, it's death and mental illness. This is entirely way too serious. We don't have a scene where our group wakes up with no memory. No, they're kidnapped and forced to find Chow. They're now on an entirely different type of mission that nobody wants to be a part of. But hey, we go back to Vegas - and instead of living large in a luxurious room, we're hanging off the roof of Caeser's Palace this time and parachuting through the city streets. The absurd fantasy that allowed us to enjoy the previous two films has now been crossed, and exposed for being a thin line to begin with. We were just too busy having fun before. Now that the actual movie has been darkened, we can't relax and let ourselves go.
To add insult to injury, the final scene (spoilers, I guess?) is a huge tease for the movie we actually wanted to see. One of our group is getting married, and we cut to the morning after the bachelor party. It amps up the scene we fell in love with from the first film, then rolls the credits. Our trilogy has ended, and we were robbed of a great story.
This is what we get though. This is what we wanted and demanded. We can take some pleasure in knowing that there wont' be any more of these, right?
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