The Hangover Part III
Directed by: Todd Phillips Starring: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms Rating: R Release Date: May 24, 2013
Trailer Score: 6/10
Thoughts by TSR: Alan's giraffe aside, there weren't many jokes in the first trailer for The Hangover Part III. This one gets off to a funnier start with Alan wishing his mother had died instead of his daddy, and the first half stays amusing enough. Justin Bartha's Doug, ever the buzzkill, tells Alan about an awesome place called New Horizons. Alan likes the sound of it, but then Doug's even bigger buzzkill wife has to come right out and say it's an intervention. That leads to an excellent exchange between Galifianakis and Bradley Cooper that cumulates in the best drawn out groan this side of Tina on "Bob's Burgers."
Alan in a rehab facility could actually be a pretty good setup for this third chapter. Unsurprisingly, however, John Goodman has other designs. It's amusing how he takes Doug as his insurance and even more amusing when Alan yells that he should take Stu instead. Perhaps it's just a spurned watcher (I hesitate to use the word "fan" at this point) of "The Office" who despises Helms' Andy Bernard talking, but I wouldn't mind if Stu was the one out of commission this time.
The back half of the trailer is mostly sullied by Ken Jeong's Leslie Chow. Seriously, Chow (not "Ciao" as in "arrivederci, Papa John," Alan) is a huge detriment to this thing. It looks like he's playing a fairly large role, which is something Ken Jeong should never do. He's tolerable, occasionally funny, in minor roles, but when he's given more to do it just becomes annoying. The annoyance happens over the course of this trailer, so I can't imagine how it'll play in the full film. By the time it gets to Chow flying through the air singing R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly" I couldn't stand it. Hopefully John Goodman takes some screen time away from him. If not, this final chapter in the Wolf Pack's story could be rough.