The Hangover Part III 2013

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: The Hangover Part III gives off such a stench of creative decay that it hardly seems possible that even Phillips or his co-writers have any use for the movie themselves. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: This third installment could easily be dismissed as too little, too late, if only it weren't in fact too much, too late. Read more

New York Times: Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: A dull, lazy walkthrough that along with "The Big Wedding" has a claim to be the year's worst star-driven movie. Read more

John Anderson, Wall Street Journal: "Hangover III" is likable enough, even as it collapses in a heap. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: This is an ugly, angry picture. Read more

Andrew Barker, Variety: Ditching the hangovers, the backward structure, the fleshed-out characters and any sense of debauchery or fun, this installment instead just thrusts its long-suffering protagonists into a rote chase narrative ... Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: There is ... no hangover in The Hangover Part III. And yet a sense of creative dehydration still pervades. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: At least this time it seems like they're trying. A little, at least. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: It's not terrible. It's just bad. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: It dares to alienate the very audience that made ''The Hangover'' the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time because, well, it isn't exactly a comedy. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This final installment in the party-boy franchise... wisely drops the narrative gimmick of alcohol-induced amnesia that made the first movie so unusual and the second its pallid copy. Read more

Tom Charity, CNN.com: If only what happened in Vegas had stayed in Vegas. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The tonal problem of the second installment, which often resembled a drug-infested pulp thriller instead of a comedy, is also problematic here. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: "The Hangover Part III" is a more proper follow-up to the original than "Part II," and Phillips gives his characters a proper send off. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: Part caper, part coming-of-adulthood story, Hangover III never settles into a debauched groove. As a Sin City romp, it's too tame. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: The franchise is sent off in style, a reminder of why we once loved it. Read more

Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter: Young viewers looking for unbridled raunch will be sadly disappointed, and so will other moviegoers expecting more than a few wan chuckles. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: I'm not sure who let the dogs out this time, but they should be made to pay. Read more

Charlie McCollum, San Jose Mercury News: Phillips has lost all of the sharp humor, keen sense of debauchery and still plain fun that marked the original. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: This odious, mean-spirited movie appropriates the title and the characters from the previous pictures and sends them on a would-be adventure involving gangsters, gold bars and that pinnacle of hilarity, decapitated giraffes. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: It seems to have one goal: to be so dark, nasty and joyless that audiences won't want Part IV. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: The first "Hangover" was good dirty fun; the second was dirtier, and less fun. But the third? It's just a chore - and no hair of the dog is going to make it any easier to bear. Read more

Joel Arnold, NPR: An excessively violent action comedy that handily manages the tough task of feeling at once tired and aggressively heartless. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: The pleasant surprise of "The Hangover Part III" is a belated bout of adulthood has only made the extended-adolescent characters funnier. The result is a more traditional but more hysterical crowd-pleaser. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: The good news is that "The Hangover Part III" isn't a rerun like the second episode. The bad news is everything else. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: To quote a line from the movie, bad things happen and people get hurt. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The Hangover Part III is an obvious example of how wrong things can go when the almighty dollar is allowed to rule what comes out of Hollywood. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Director Todd Phillips delivers a film so different from the first two, I'm not even sure it's supposed to be a comedy. Read more

Odie Henderson, Chicago Sun-Times: I had to wait until halfway through the closing credits for my first, and only, laugh. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: The first movie left you with an exhilarating rush. All that Part III leaves is, well, a hangover. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The trio's kettle-on-fire of simmering exasperation boils over often and uproariously. Anyone whose best pals drive them crazy (most of us, I'm guessing) will identify. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Here the characters are cardboard cutouts, placed into predicaments that aren't remotely real. Or funny. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Not just bad, but weirdly, fascinatingly bad. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Those looking for hilarity and hijinks with episode three will find the party is indeed over. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: 'Part III' has curiously little interest in being even remotely funny. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Nothing about this rote exercise feels remotely fresh. It's a re-tread of the 2009 original, sans the inspired lunacy. Read more

Chris Packham, Village Voice: Phillips is zero percent interested in exploring the narcissism of his characters, as long as they arrive back exactly at the point of departure. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Coupled with its logic headaches, it left me feeling like I needed an Alka-Seltzer Plus. Anything to add a little fizzy relief to these flat and unfunny proceedings. Read more