The Best ... Best? ... Parts of The Hangover Part III

I'm not actually willing to say that The Hangover series should be laid to rest. After I named the original Hangover the best comedy of all-time and The Hangover Part II a solid 4 out of 5 stars, there's still a possibility more Hangovers wouldn't be the worst thing.

However, The Hangover Part III is a true stinker. While the Wolfpack is still somehow pretty cool, they can no longer command the same amount of laughs.

Here are the film's funny moments, in chronological order ...

1. The highway pileup created by the beheading of a giraffe, owned by one Alan Garner (Zach Galifianakis).
2. Alan's singing at his father's funeral.
(A long stretch of a ridiculous and painfully unfunny kidnapping of the Wolfpack by John Goodman.)
3. Chow (Ken Jeong) and Alan's Tijuana kiss.
(At the halfway point, there had still only been three laughs. And that's being generous.)
4. The Melissa McCarthy lollipop/pawnshop scene.
5. The recurring Billy Joel soundtrack to Alan's life.
6. The Alan-and-his-son scene.
(Another very long unfunny stretch.)
7. The farewell scene when Chow tells Alan he's "cold as ice."
8. Alan's closing scene, when he announces he's leaving the Wolfpack.

So, obviously, Galifianakis still has what it takes to be brilliantly funny. But Ed Helms (zero laughs) is shockingly wasted and Bradley Cooper (maybe a half a laugh) is empty.

Galifianakis gets *** out of ***** stars, but The Hangover Part III itself spirals downwards for *1/2 out of ***** stars.

The Campaign is Shockingly a Lame Duck

How does the combo of Zach Galifinakis and Will Ferrell fail? These two are so reliably funny, but being together in The Campaign seems to have negated each's own charms.

This movie is shockingly unfunny. The only saving grace is that the storyline of the little dorky guy with the dorky family rising up to fight the big bully has its charms.

I actually watched this several weeks ago and was trying to forget I had ever seen it. But then I thought I better write this blog now to remind myself never to watch it again.

I don't think I even laughed twice, which is almost impossible. I laugh at all kinds of dumb stuff.

Go back and watch Zach in Two Ferns or The Hangover, or Will in any of his other films.

*1/2 out of ***** stars

Meat Party Capped Off With The Hangover Part II

Apparently The Hangover Part II never had a fighting chance.

With a 35 percent score of critical reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, this is surely a pretty worthless movie. Except, by any other standards of comparison other than the first installment, this sequel would actually be bordering on riotous.

The beginning and the end are nearly as good as The Hangover, which is saying a lot, considering I ranked it the greatest comedy of all time. Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong, and a capuchin monkey are particularly over-the-top funny.

However, the middle section in a nightclub, a tattoo parlor, and a Buddhist monk sanctuary are each lacking in inspiration and very slow. The producers could have done so much more. And the critics' complaints about how this is basically The Hangover Part I only in Thailand are certainly correct.

All that said, I certainly don't need my 90 minutes back. And reliving the original Hangover with my friends Gordie, Zak, and Brian for a Fogo de Chao Brazilian meat party really put Friday evening over the top.

**** out of ***** stars