Movie review: The Hangover Part III (M18, 100 min) | 1.5/5

Maybe I’ve had a few too many hangovers myself, but aren’t the Hangover films supposed to be comedies? I ask this because I might have missed the memo that Rob Zombie had been hired to take the franchise in a new direction - where encouraging laughter is frowned upon on.

The Hangover Part III brings the Wolfpack back for one last lark. Alan (Zach Galifianakis) has gone off his meds and off the deep end, and his friends Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Doug (Justin Bartha) decide to drive him to Arizona to get treatment — except they get assaulted by a big, scary gangster named Marshall (John Goodman) along the way. Doug is kidnapped and held hostage until the other guys can give Marshall what he wants: Their old frenemy Mr Chow (Ken Jeong).

This time, there’s no forgotten night, no bachelor party, no wedding to get to, no “hangover” to emerge victorious from. But it isn’t the breaking of the usual format that kills the laughs. Nor is it the decision to put Alan and Chow front and centre (although there is a Joe Pesci lesson to be learnt here: Some people are funny only when they’re used sparingly). It’s the simple fact that the script from director Todd Phillips and co-writer Craig Mazin isn’t particularly funny.

Broadly speaking, killing people, smothering roosters, snapping the necks of dogs, and killing more people is only a laugh riot to the segment of the population that ends up serving as inspiration for the writers of Criminal Minds. Put that hoot-free script in the hands of returning actors who mainly look as if they’d rather be somewhere else if not for contractual obligations, and you get a comedy that makes cat videos on YouTube look like the best of Monty Python.

Phillips has bizarrely turned in an action-adventure — and not a very good one, either. If you must watch it to complete your trilogy experience, do stay for the little treat that comes on after the credits start rolling. It is, sadly, the comedic highlight of the entire film.

The party’s over

Standing alone in Caesars Palace casino, amid a riot of a million flashing lights, the bing-bing-binging of slot machines, and a sizeable army of strangely orange women, I took a moment to contemplate my newly acquired riches.

I had beaten the house. A Sin City miracle! Right up there with the best of fabled Vegas folklore — like the stripper with a heart of gold, the bachelor party that ends well, and the thief who looks like George Clooney.

“Keep it together, Wong,” I said to myself in my indoor internal monologue voice, “these dirty sharks can smell money”. I casually stared down at the cash-out voucher in my hands, face expressly expressionless so as not to draw attention to myself and my winnings. Ten large — and it was all mine.

Wait, 10 large? Is that the same as 10 G? I was never very good with American money speak. The cool slang starts with a D. Dead Presidents … De Niros … Oh, wait: Dime. I won a dime. B*****s. And that’s even more in Singapore dollars. Like, 1.26 times more.

And I plan to put it all in a long-term fixed deposit. Because that’s how I roll.

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS

My ticket out of poverty was all thanks to The Hangover. Not the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time in the United States that raked in US$467 million (S$591 million) worldwide, but the slot machine based on that movie where you match up tigers and babies and Heather Grahams.

The slot machine is just one example of how The Hangover is now firmly a Las Vegas icon. People of varying levels of sanity dress up (not very well) as the film’s characters on the Strip to take pictures with even loonier tourists for money; Zach Galifianakis’ bearded man-child Alan is plastered all over T-shirts, caps, boxer shorts, keychains and other assorted souvenirs at the airport gift shop; and the main cast of Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms can’t walk past any casino, strip club or police lock-up without someone very drunk yelling, “Sign my face, man!!!”

Old Vegas may be about the Rat Pack. New Vegas, however, is clearly ruled by the Wolfpack — who were debating among themselves, as they often do in the movies, about a very serious topic: Do the crazy people on the Strip dressed up like their characters bear any physical resemblance to themselves?

With Phil, Stu and Alan — played by Cooper, Helms and Galifianakis — back on screens for The Hangover Part III, it seems the wolves in Wolfpack clothing were out in full force.

“We saw ‘Stu’ last night,” said Cooper.

“He looks nothing like me,” said Helms, shaking his head.

Cooper nodded in agreement. “‘Alan’ looks exactly like Zach.”

Galifianakis whipped his head around and stared at Cooper as if he were a fat kid enjoying a celery stick. “He looks nothing like me!” he protested. “It’s just a guy with a beard! I’ve met him!”

“That’s like saying Bradley looks like you,” said Helms, pointing at both men’s facial shrubbery.

“I got the next shift,” laughed Cooper.

“Bradley, how come there isn’t someone dressed up like you?” asked a journo.

“Yeah, what’s up with that?” egged Helms.

Nothing from Cooper.

“There’s not a lot of good-looking people in Vegas,” Galifianakis smirked.

GOOD TIMES

The Hangover III is billed as the “epic finale” to the lucrative franchise (the second film outgrossed the original by almost US$100 million). And now that it’s all over — all of it, the missing tooth, the face tattoo, the unfortunate sexual encounters, the Mike Tyson — what’s the hangover from The Hangover like?

“It’s too fresh,” said Helms. “It’s starting to sink in … that this is all over and that we’re never going to do this again, and that’s real sad. That’s a bummer. It conjures a lot of warmth and nostalgia and, above all, we feel so grateful to have been on this ride.”

“I think for all of us, we’ve benefited tremendously from it,” said Cooper. “On so many fronts. On an economic front, it’s provided security in a way that you can only dream of; artistically, it provided the ability to help projects get off the ground because you were part of something that was financially lucrative.”

He’s telling the truth — “financially lucrative” is pretty much all that matters in Hollywood. At least according to Heather Graham, who reprises her stripper character Jade from the first film. “Once you really learn about films, it’s kinda disturbing how they get made,” she laughed. “They just take the money made from the movies you’ve been in and put them in a computer — and that’s how they decide if they can hire you! It’s not as creative as you would think. You’d think, ‘Oh, they just hire the best person.’ No. It’s pretty dark.”

None of the actors were big stars when the first film turned out to be the runaway hit of 2009. Today, Cooper is an Oscar-nominated actor and is producing his next film American Sniper with Steven Spielberg, no less; Helms has graduated from TV actor in The Office to the star of the upcoming remake of Chevy Chase’s Vacation; and Galifianakis has gone from underground comic to one of the biggest comedic names in Hollywood. All three were reportedly paid over US$15 million each for The Hangover Part III.

Success, however, has its downside. The eradication of anonymity and privacy, for one. Who Cooper may or may not be dating draws more attention than who he’s working with.

“The one thing as a comic that I did struggle with, with these movies and getting known, is when you start as a comic, it’s really important for you to be able to observe the world, and to be able to sit in the back of a room and write things down,” said the famously reticent Galifianakis. “People now wanted to talk, and sometimes I was a bit rude. Because I felt threatened by it. But I think I’m a lot better now, and more willing to accept the fate of it.”

“But if I see teenagers walking down the street, I will definitely cross the street,” he laughed. “No doubt about it whatsoever!”

THIS IS THE END

This being Hollywood, of course, “the end” isn’t necessarily a hard full stop. After all, Jason does dies at the end of every Friday The 13th movie. Is this really, honestly, categorically the end of a six-year-long Hangover?

“One hundred per cent,” said Helms. “First of all, we all want it to end, because it just feels creatively in the right place. But I think also if we were to come back after all the marketing materials that say ‘This Is The End’, we would just be the biggest jackasses ever.”

“It was okay for Jay-Z!” offered Cooper.

“People forget,” quipped Galifianakis. “The Hangover 4 posters can say ‘We Were Just Kidding!’”

Assuming the Wolfpack truly is giving up the mayhem and calling it a day, everyone involved can be safe in the knowledge that they have earned their place in the annals of popular culture, souvenir gift shops and very bad plans. (“All these guys come to Vegas hoping to have a crazy time like the movie,” a friendly croupier said to me while emptying my pockets of any sign of currency. “A tiger in the room? That’s nothing. I’ve seen much worse.”)

“To make a seminal Las Vegas movie is a pretty cool thing,” admitted writer/director Todd Phillips. “But also to have made this huge R-rated comedy franchise is to me — having grown up on R-rated comedies, whether they be Stripes, Blues Brothers, Fast Times — is to me a big deal.”

And as for The Hangover’s cinematic legacy? “The truth is you really won’t know for decades the impact of the movie. If it will live on like Caddy Shack or Meatballs or Some Like It Hot,” said Cooper. “It could just fade away. It really could. Who knows? It could have been big for these 10 years and then 20 years from now, no one really talks about it. So we’ll see.”

Yes, we shall. In the meantime, the Wolfpack will always have Vegas. And me? In 20 years, my dime will be worth a whopping S$0.23. Drinks are on me, baby.

The Hangover Part III opens in cinemas tomorrow.

Rihanna to play at Singapore Grand Prix

SINGAPORE — Pop superstar Rihanna will perform at the 2013 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix this September.

Her performance on the Padang Stage on Sunday, Sept 22, will be on the same day as the night race, which caps a week of events around the Marina Bay circuit.

Rihanna, 25, last performed in Singapore in 2008 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The Barbados-born singer has 12 No 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and sold over 41 million albums. She has also sold over 150 million digital tracks worldwide, making her the top-selling digital artist of all time.

In addition, Forbes magazine also named Rihanna as the world’s No 1 social media star with 63 million fans on Facebook, over 27 million followers on twitter and more than 2.9 billion views on YouTube and Vevo.

The other acts at this year’s Singapore Grand Prix include popular American band The Killers, who will perform on Saturday, Sept 21.

Google goes Hollywood with ‘The Internship’

LOS ANGELES/ SAN FRANCISCO — When “The Internship,” a comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, hits movie theaters on June 7, Google will be taking more than a little interest in how the film is received.

In an unusual collaboration, the Internet giant was closely involved with the film, a US$58 million (S$73.6 million) Fox production which features two middle-aged watch salesmen who are determined to get a job at Google.

Amidst the comedic hijinks, the film indeed delivers a picture of a kind and gentle Google, a company that offers free food and exercise classes and is in every respect the place you’d like to work. Various Google products get plugs in the film, and co-founder Sergey Brin gets a cameo role.

The favorable PR comes at an opportune moment for Google, whose unofficial motto is “Don’t Be Evil” but which is often portrayed in far darker tones by privacy advocates, antitrust regulators and competitors such as Microsoft. The US Federal Trade Commission recently began exploring a new set of antitrust allegations against the company, sources told Reuters last week.

“It’s a good move. It’s going to enhance and warm up Google’s image perception,” said former Coca Cola chief marketing officer Peter Sealey, who is an adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University and worked as a consultant for Google seven years ago.

The movie is a far cry from the Hollywood experience of rival Facebook. The social networking kingpin did not collaborate with “The Social Network,” which focused heavily on the conflicts between founder Mark Zuckerberg and his early partners and didn’t make any of them look very good.

“Movies like this are always a risk,” said Howard Bragman, a Hollywood publicist and vice-chairman of the Internet image-management firm Reputation.com. “They can be great for employee morale or they can drag it down.”

Early signs suggest Google’s gamble may pay off. The website Marketingland.com said the film was “A fun movie, but also a beautiful Google commercial.”

INSPIRATION FROM “60 MINUTES”

Shawn Levy, director of “The Internship,” said Vaughn came up with the premise for the film after seeing a “60 Minutes” special that portrayed Google as one of the best places in the world to work.

Vaughn arranged a lunch with Wilson and a group of “Googlers” at the company’s Mountain View campus, and sought the company’s participation. Google eventually agreed, and Vice President of Marketing Lorraine Twohill oversaw the project.

The company did not make Brin or Twohill available for comment. CEO Larry Page said at a recent conference that Google agreed to collaborate partly because executives felt they didn’t have much choice, but also to promote science and technology.

“The reason why we got involved in that is that computer science has a marketing problem. We’re the nerdy curmudgeons,” Page said at the Google IO conference.

Google insisted on creative control over how the film portrayed its products, Levy said. Such agreements are fairly common when auto makers and other companies strike deals for their products to appear in movies.

The company was closely involved in assuring authenticity when production shifted to Georgia Tech, where the film crew built a reproduction of Google’s campus, right down to the slides that employees use in the lobby of its buildings and the “nap pods” where they can rest during the day.

Levy said the company’s input was limited to technical issues rather than plot.

Accurately or not, the film cheerfully plays into geek stereotypes. Overweight, slovenly nerds appear in many scenes. Interns are shown wearing hats with propeller blades that are painted in Google’s signature red, blue and gold colors, modeled on the ones that Google employees and interns wear on their first day at work.

Teams of interns compete against one another in a game based on Quidditch, an invention of the “Harry Potter” books that’s a favorite with computer programmers. Predictably, many of the interns are less than adept at running or catching a ball.

Google executives may have cringed at some scenes, such as one in which interns get drunk at a strip club.

Google complained about the portrayal of the intern group’s training officer, who the company thought was mean-spirited and decidedly not “Googley,” said Levy. By the film’s conclusion, the trainer abruptly becomes warm and cuddly - an evolution that Levy says wasn’t in the original script, but which he denies was done to appease Google.

The producers let Google executives see an early cut of the film, three months ahead of time, and were prepared for “notes” - Hollywoodspeak for corrections - that Levy said never came.

“It was a nerve-racking moment,” he recalled. “The final movie was definitely different than the screen play Google had read. I was pleased that their desire for a satisfying movie trumped any kind of preciousness about their company and culture.”

Google had little choice but to cooperate, said Ruben Igielko-Herrlich, whose Propaganda GEM product placement firm finds roles in movies for clients that include BMW, Nokia and Lacoste.

“The movie would get made with or without a company’s input,” said Igielko-Herrlich. “You have to embrace the production if you hope to soften whatever bad things they might have in there.” REUTERS

Film star parenting

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES (NEW MEXICO) — Will Smith has a new outlook on teenagers: Parents do indeed understand.

The rapper-turned-actor says he’s “grown a lot” since writing the Grammy-winning 1988 hit that humorously declared they didn’t.

All three of his children now at least dabble in music and acting, most notably 14-year-old Jaden, who stars with his father in the new sci-fi film, After Earth. Even in the midst of a globe-hopping promotional tour for the movie, Smith recognises the downside to making stardom a family affair.

“I think that the major risk of this particular business is strictly emotional,” he said in a recent interview. “The business has almost a narcotic quality. So it’s almost as if you’re introducing a narcotic into your kid’s life.

“So for (wife) Jada (Pinkett Smith) and I, the most important thing is that they have to stay focused and grounded on the fact that they are giving. You don’t make movies for your ego. You make movies to transfer information, to bring joy, to add value to the world.”

Smith does everything he can to playfully poke at his son’s ego: When Jaden loudly drops a water bottle during a TV interview, he is quickly reprimanded

“You’re kidding, right? You’re kidding. That’s the most unprofessional thing I’ve seen you do!” he teased.

After Earth is set in a future where nature has turned on humans, and Jaden plays a trainee trying to follow in the footsteps of his father, a famous military leader played by Smith. When the two crash-land, Jaden’s character must prove his own abilities to survive.

Smith said he wants his family to be successful in the entertainment industry across generations, and has searched Hollywood history for models.

“I’ve looked for a lot of years. The Barrymores got really close to what I see in my head for my family,’’ Smith said, referring to the clan of theatre and film actors famed in the 1930s and now represented by Drew Barrymore.

Smith’s daughter Willow, now 12, appeared in two movies but has focused on music. After causing a stir with the pop smash Whip My Hair three years ago, she’s backed away from the spotlight but continued to release songs online. Smith’s other son, 20-year-old Trey, has taken up DJ work and posts electronic dance songs and mixes online. Jada Pinkett Smith is an actress, author, singer-songwriter and businesswoman. She and Smith started Overbrook Entertainment, which has produced many of his films, including After Earth.

Smith makes no apologies for encouraging his children to follow their parents towards cameras and microphones. “I grew up in a family business. So it’s like everybody works together and that’s how the family bonds and communicates and how we eat,” he said. “In my mind, I’m a warrior and I’m teaching my son how to hunt. And how else would I teach my son how to hunt other than bring him with me and we’re in an interview and this is what I do and this is the business I work in. To me, I can’t imagine what the other option is.”

That said, he approaches parenting differently than his own father, a former Air Force pilot who enforced strict discipline on Smith and his siblings.

“The major difference is I’m trying to release the sense of ownership,” Smith said. “With our kids, Jada and I believe that it’s their lives and we are helping them with their lives. And they’re not our property. They are people who are deservant of our respect and consideration in the same way that any other human being should be.”

Beyond acting, Jaden learned his father’s early raps and now writes his own. While he isn’t looking to replicate the one-time Fresh Prince’s every move, it’s clear he has internalised Dad’s long-term outlook on the family business.

“If I wanted my career to be exactly like his, then people would keep telling me for the rest of my life, ‘Wow, you successfully pulled off your dad’s career. Congratulations!’” Jaden said. “If I was doing just what he did, then my son would feel like he had to do just what I did. I want my son to feel like he can be a classical pianist if he wants to.” AP

Art holds the fort

SINGAPORE — It looks like the National Art Gallery won’t be the only museum in Singapore to open its doors in 2015 — a private art museum from France is set to do the same.

Pinacotheque de Paris is setting up its first location outside of Europe at Fort Canning Park’s Fort Canning Centre, which housed Singapore Dance Theatre.

The museum, which opened in 2007 and is considered the largest private art museum in Paris, presents shows featuring masterpieces from artists like Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Edvard Munch, and Pablo Picasso, which are borrowed from private collections. For a taste of what’s to come, a pop-up exhibition will be held in September this year featuring 20 masterpieces from artists like Botticelli, Rembrandt, Pollock and Picasso among others.

The museum’s presence was spearheaded by Arts Heritage Singapore (AHS), a company that counts Pinacotheque de Paris founder Marc Restellini among the four partners involved in this venture. “We are delighted to be bringing rarely seen before works by some of the world’s most celebrated master artists to the region,” he said. As for why Singapore has been chosen, Alain Vandenborre, a fellow partner explained: “There is a developed culture of museums in Singapore. The fit was very good.”

With the museum as centrepiece, AHS will be redeveloping Fort Canning Centre. There are plans to include retail and F&B shops and the centre is also envisioned to be an art-based lifestyle area.

“The Singapore Pinacotheque de Paris will be a unique attraction in Fort Canning Park, a popular venue for arts and cultural events and one of Singapore’s most historic landmarks,” said NParks chief executive Poon Hong Yuen. MAYO MARTIN

The Hangover Part III’s Ken Jeong on Asian parents and Community

Las Vegas — Mild-mannered Ken Jeong lives a double life: Good Asian dad and loving husband in reality; crazy, unhinged, psychotic Asian lunatic on screen. Unlike most comics who usually play a heightened version of some part of themselves, it’s hard to imagine the two as the same person.

Polite, slight-framed and smiling in a neat, long-sleeved shirt, the 43-year-old Korean-American looked every bit like the doctor he was for seven years before he quit to become an actor. As he discusses the intricacies of his frequently naked character Mr Chow in The Hangover III, leaning forward with his hands clasped in front of him, one pretty much has to fight the urge to consult him on any strange burning sensations or embarrassing itches.

“In this movie, you realise Chow is Lucifer, you know? It’s a metaphor for good and evil, and consequences of doing a deal with the devil,” he said. “The devil — Chow — keeps haunting their lives for years, as a consequence of that unfortunate incident in Vegas.”

Jeong’s Mr Chow is indeed evil-er than he has been in the previous two instalments of the popular Hangover franchise. In Part III, he even gets a promotion from supporting character to what is pretty much a leading role opposite Zach Galifianakis’ constantly inappropriate man-child Alan. The rest of the Wolfpack, Phil and Stu, played by Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms, are still around, but they’re mainly left to hang back this time.

And while this third film is apparently the final chapter in the Hangover trilogy, Jeong is crossing his fingers that it doesn’t mean the end of Chow. “I’d love a Mr Chow spin-off. That would be quite satisfying. I think the character has a lot of room to develop and grow. And to see his origins and back story — that would be fascinating to see.

“Who knows? Maybe he was like a normal kid before.”

And then, like all good origins stories, one singular event changed the entire course of his life? “Hey, that happened to me in real life,” said the star of television’s Community. “The Hangover changed my life. I mean, it really did. It’s possible!”

Does your wife Tran get script approval, or is she happy to have you attacking random people without your clothes on?

Ken Jeong: I run everything by my wife. All the nudity, I run it all through my wife. Especially the first movie. She has always been secure about herself, about us, about me. She’s not embarrassed. She knows I’m a comedian at heart and she gets it. For her to be so unequivocally supportive, it means the world to me.

How are your parents dealing with the raunchiness of the films?

I was nervous with my mum, because my mum’s more traditional Korean. Actually, I didn’t want my mum to see the first movie for a couple of months, and that turned out to be the best reverse psychology ever. She was like: “It wasn’t that bad. It was great, I loved it. How come you underestimate me? I wish you were more nude.” (Laughs)

My dad has a collection of just about every interview — he’ll probably collect this one, too — every newspaper article, every time I’m on a talk show. Basically, he has a museum in my old bedroom. It’s very sweet … He’s always reminding me: “What you’ve got right now is so rare, and not many people have experienced this.” He’s always telling me to just enjoy it right now and have fun. They are very, very supportive.

That’s the thing about Asian parents — they might not initially be happy with your choice to do something that’s not part of the plan, but they’re so proud of you after that.

Oh, absolutely. When I quit my medical job (to become an actor), I thought it would really disappoint my dad, but he just reminded me: “You have to think about your family before you make sudden moves. What does Tran think?” I said: “Well, she’s the one who told me to quit.” And he said: “There’s your answer.” It was a very unselfish act of love, implying that the family that I have to respond to is not him — it’s my wife. If my wife 100 per cent supports me, then everybody else will fall into place.

Congratulations on Community getting renewed. Are you going to have time to continue doing the show with your movie schedule?

If Hangover is my movie family, then Community is my TV family. Community was very great to allow me to film Hangover 3, because I was shooting the fourth season while shooting this. And they’re really great people. It’s like Hangover — it’s an ensemble and there are no egos in that cast. I mean, I’ve been texting Joel McHale all day today. They’re just good people and I love them. I’m just very blessed.

Is Community creator Dan Harmon returning for Season 5?

I don’t know … I’m in the dark about everything. I didn’t even know we got renewed until it was in the trades yesterday. That’s the amazing thing about Internet media. (Laughs) I get my information the same time (as you do)! When Community was put on hiatus two years ago, someone put that on Twitter: “Ken, what a bummer that your show’s on hiatus.” I didn’t know! My agent, my manager — no one told me! Even the producers didn’t know!

Who would win Celebrity Apprentice: The Hangover’s Mr Chow or Community’s Senor Chang?

Mr Chow would win. Mr Chow would eat Chang alive. (Laughs) Chang lives in an air vent, for god’s sake. Chow would look at him and literally eat him. (Laughs) Chang is pathetic, whereas Chow is just badass. That’s a great question.

What’s next for Ken Jeong?

Honestly, I just want to be happy and continue doing more of the same. I just want to work as an actor. I just want to keep getting jobs. That really is it. I don’t have some grand design. I mean, I would love to do a Chow spin-off, I would love to do more Community. I’m a pretty simple man. I have a couple of animated films (Despicable Me 2 and Turbo) coming out this summer that I have small parts in, so I’m pretty excited about that. I just wanna keep working. I love what I do, and that to me is greater than any fame or fortune that I have at this point in my life.

The Hangover Part III is in cinemas now.