ThePhantomMovieBuff

Not so long ago in the year 2009, The Hangover exploded onto the scene and was praised as one of the funniest films of the decade, with its witty cast and the hilarious "re-tracing our footsteps to find out what we did" routine running as the main plot. The Hangover Part II simply changed nothing at all, and offered nothing new with the attitude of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." What will please fan's the most with The Hangover Part III, is that is does not follow the same formula that the first two did. However, a lot of fan's will be headed into disappointment when they realize that this third instalment decides to take a completely different change in direction than that of its predecessors. And by completely, I mean very much drastically.

The story follows the Wolf Pack yet again as they try to help Alan (Zach Galifianakis) get back on track due to him being off his meds, and soon enough they get thrown into a Mission Impossible-esque mission to save their friend Doug (Justin Bartha, who yet again takes a miss on all the excitement) from Marshall (John Goodman), an angry gangster who wants' the Wolf Pack to find Chow (Ken Jeong, who has a much larger screen time in this instalment) and return to him to them with 21 million dollars in gold bricks that he stole. If not, Doug gets the offing.

A major plot point is the development of Alan. His friends Phil and Stu (Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms) are mature and grown men who have happily settled down, but he is still very much stuck as a spoilt rotten teenager within a man's body, and his life is going nowhere. Throughout the adventure, it really is a tale about Alan and watching him grow into the man he should have become years ago. Fans of The Hangover owe it to themselves to watch it, whatever their final opinion of it may be.

Whereas The Hangover Part III doesn't match the quality of its first part, it definitely doesn't deserve all the negativity it has been getting. The film does a good job of balancing the well known Hangover humour with the Mission Impossible-esque set pieces, and all the recurring stars do well reprising their roles. One of the biggest changes that The Hangover Part III entails is that there is no actual drinking/hangover sequence. There's also no wedding or no missing person (or a pot smoking monkey). Instead, it plays it much straighter and it knows what it wants to set out to do, which is to stray far away from the formula of the first two chapters. And by doing so, it makes the finale to The Hangover Trilogy one to remember.

My Verdict: The Hangover Part III is a fitting end to the trilogy, but despite its changes in directions fans will be divided, resulting in a love or hate for this final chapter.

After nine years, Jack (Andrew Buchan), proposes to his infertile girlfriend Camille (Romola Garai), whilst working in a seemingly poor job fixing old arcade machines with best (and possibly only) friend and boss Paul (Steven Cree), with his chess loving father Peter (Philip Davies) pressuring him to get a real job in order to fully support her. Complications, however, begin to arrive when Anna (Anna Friel) an old one night stand from years back, turns up at his doorstep with her seven year old son Phoenix (Issac Andrews) claiming that he just may be the father.

The most admirable thing about Having You is the character development and the writer's ability to keep them grounded and realistic, so that we care about them enough and grow invested in them. It's a tale of human nature and responsibility, and we follow Jack on his journey of coming to terms with the mistakes he has made and facing them like a true adult, responsibly and maturely; not to mention dealing with a shut down and difficult relationship with his father, the growing struggles of keeping his family a secret from the completely clueless Camille, and old habits rearing their ugly heads back into the picture as Jack struggles with the troubling hand he has been dealt.

A real plus in the matter is Steven Cree's witty and often hilarious portrayal of the easy-going boss (who acts more like a teenager trapped in a man's body), who really gives the film that comic relief in the occasional moments in which he shares screen time.

Towards the last half hour, the film takes a dramatic change in direction that does its job exceptionally well by building up the emotions and tension before delivering a powerful and heartbreaking finale that really hits the audience hard. Unfortunately, it is such a film that will go without any real recognition, and this is a real shame due to it's impressive quality and well crafted storytelling.

My Verdict: Emotional, character driven and grounded, Having You is one of those rare gems that sticks with you long after it's over.