(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Mon 2 March 2026 1:30, UK
Cinema history is littered with examples of abysmal movies that featured great actors, and back in 2013, we got a particularly egregious example starring John Goodman, as he signed up to a film that may as well have just been titled ‘cash grab’.
But let’s rewind a few years, to 2009 in fact, when a comedy about four friends on a Las Vegas stag do that goes horrendously awry came from nowhere to become one of the most talked about comedies of the decade, despite the fact that it featured actors you would struggle to name.
The Hangover was based on one film producer’s real-life experience of being on a bachelor weekend and having the main man go missing in Las Vegas, which was then turned into a script which got Hollywood very excited. It was still by no means a guaranteed hit, however, especially with an unknown cast aside from a cameo from boxing legend Mike Tyson, but thanks to word of mouth, the film quickly became the highest R-rated comedy in movie history, bringing in just shy of half a billion dollars in revenue against a budget of just $35million and making stars of its cast, especially Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis.
Unsurprisingly, a sequel had to be made, which duly arrived in 2011 with The Hangover Part 2, in which the original gang were reunited and the action took place in Thailand rather than Vegas. Such was the demand for the second film, despite it not really capturing the magic of the first one, it made a staggering $568m at the box office, meaning a third movie was a shoe-in, regardless of the poor reviews.
It arrived two years later, and Goodman signed up to join the original ‘Wolfpack’ as they headed back to Las Vegas for all kinds of chaotic adventures, and despite the veteran actor’s promise that the third instalment would be “different from the first two and insanely funny”, neither of those things proved to be the case.
It was very clear from the off that the movie was not in the same league as the second movie, let alone the first, and neither Goodman’s portrayal of a vicious drug lord, nor the presence of Galifianakis, who was undoubtedly the star of the franchise, could save it from being panned by the critics.
Goodman was nevertheless very taken by the bearded comedian and seemed to have a good time making the film, which scraped its way to a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, saying, “They are the nicest guys to work with, and they are all insanely funny. Especially Zach. He’s a genius but he’s the sweetest genius you’ll ever see in your life. Just a nice guy.”
When the movie came out, it was clear that it needed to represent an end to the Hangover series for some time. Despite the fact that it made $300m, this was way, way down on the previous movies and by now the likes of Cooper were off doing major dramatic parts, becoming Oscar-nominated three years in a row for titles like Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and American Sniper.
Goodman, meanwhile, had also cemented his place as one of the leading dramatic actors in Hollywood, as around that time he was picking up major roles in films including Denzel Washington’s Flight and George Clooney’s The Monuments Men. Galifianakis has mostly stayed in comedy, however, with his Between Two Ferns chat show, and in recent years has concentrated on voiceover work. He did bring up the prospect of making Hangover 4, saying he’d written a script and “I sent it to the other guys, they sent me videos of them burning it”.