8. The Hangover Part 3
Release Date: 24th May 2013 The original Hangover movie was great - its jokes found their targets, its characters were entertaining and endearing and its lines - perhaps most importantly for a comedy - were eminently quotable. Thanks to its concept, it also seemed likely to be a stand-alone movie, since attempting to revisit the same sort of plot would inevitably lead to retreading the same ground somewhat... But then it made a boatload of money and a sequel was greenlit, moving the setting to a new country entirely and promising new laughs and just as much fun as the first movie, and a lot of us were convinced to go and see it on that promise. Sadly, the country may have been different but the film was too similar: the tiger was replaced by a monkey, the lost tooth by a facial tattoo and the baby by a missing finger, but it was essentially just the same material as the original, and the effect was not successful at all. Why would it be? Someone telling the same joke to you over and over will lose its impact almost immediately, and it will become irritating just as quickly. Though there will no doubt be the same promises of new material and new jokes, I have no confidence that the third Hangover will be able to avoid the same effect. After all, if the studio is brave enough to change the film enough, they run the risk of alienating their original audience, and anything that could have such an obvious effect on box office or even the possibility of a fourth film will no doubt be avoided at all costs.