Four years ago The Hangover took us by surprise. A hilarious movie that became the most successful R rated comedy at the box office. Two years later we got The Hangover Part II. The sequel had funny and a few great moments, but it was mostly the same movie as the first one, it was more a remake than a sequel. It didn't have anything fresh and it just dragged. For The Hangover Part III, director Todd Phillips and company decided to throw away the structure of the first two movies and instead deliver a new approach to the series. I am pleased to inform the new approach works beautifully and makes the series feel fresh again.

The story follows Alan (Zach Galifianakis). After spending six months off his meds Alan is not doing well. He decides to buy a giraffe and to tow her behind his car. This event causes the first of many hilarious moments to be found in the film.  Alan's family decides he needs to go to a mental institution and they enlist his friends, Phil, Stu and Doug, to take him there. The guys are now all back together, which in these films can only mean one thing, problem is around the corner. John Goodman plays a mobster named Marshall who wants to find Lesley Chow (Ken Jeong), the crazy Chinese dude from the previous films. Marshall enlists the wolfpack to find Mr. Chow. In their search of  Mr. Chow we experience many, many dark, raunchy, risky but all hilarious scenes. The whole cast brings it but it's Ken Jeong and Zach Galifianakis who steal the scenes.

The Hangover Part III delivers big in the themes of male friendship and what men do for friends when put against a wall. This final entry is without a doubt the most sentimental film of the three. Don't be alarmed, the extra doses of sentimentalism work in crafting the perfect conclusion. By the last shot of the movie we are reminded why we like these characters and  the reason we stuck with them. The Hangover Trilogy was like a roller-coaster, with ups and downs but always letting us wanting just a little bit more.

Here’s the official synopsis for The Hangover Part III:

“The Hangover Part III” reunites stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha as Phil, Stu, Alan and Doug. Also returning to the cast are Ken Jeong as Leslie Chow; Heather Graham as Stu’s first wife, Jade; and Jeffrey Tambor as Alan’s father, Sid. Joining the ensemble for the first time is John Goodman, starring as the guys’ new nightmare, Marshall.

It’s been two years. Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Doug (Justin Bartha) are happily living uneventful lives at home. Tattoos have been lasered off, files purged. The last they heard from disaster-magnet Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong), he’d been tossed into a Thai prison and, with him out of the way, the guys have very nearly recovered from their nights prowling the seamy side of Las Vegas in a roofie’d haze, and being kidnapped, shot at, and chased by drug- dealing mobsters in Bangkok.

The only member of the Wolfpack who’s not content is Alan (Zach Galifianakis). Still lacking a sense of purpose, the group’s black sheep has ditched his meds and given in to his natural impulses in a big way-which, for Alan, means no boundaries, no filters and no judgment-until a personal crisis forces him to finally seek the help he needs.

And who better than his three best friends to make sure he takes the first step. This time, there’s no bachelor party. No wedding. What could possibly go wrong? But when the Wolfpack hits the road, all bets are off.

“The Hangover Part III” is the epic conclusion to an incomparable odyssey of mayhem and bad decisions, in which the guys must finish what they started by going back to where it all began: Las Vegas.

One way or another...it all ends here.

“The Hangover Part III” in theaters on Thursday May 23, 2013