There just aren’t enough films out there about men getting wasted and wild shenanigans taking place. Okay, perhaps there is, but there aren’t enough that do it right. Luckily, Irish comedy The Stag puts this to rest.
Andrew Scott leads the way here in a showcase of some marvellous Irish comic talent as Davin, a best man who is entrusted with the task of convincing his best friend, a proud metrosexual man, to throw aside his usual ways and go on a stag do with his friends before he gets married. The husband to be, Fionnan (you’ll have about as much trouble figuring out the pronunciation as the wedding planner in the film), would rather go with his fiancé, Ruth (Amy Huberman) on her hen do, or stay at home and continue to get under their wedding planners skin by taking control of everything. Luckily Davin and the rest of the friends, Simon (Brian Gleeson), Kevin (Andrew Bennett) and Kevin (Michael Legge) – the two Kevin’s being in a relationship, which leads them being reluctantly referred to as Big Kevin and Little Kevin, respectively – manage to convince Fionnan that a couple of days away on a hike is just what he needs as a send-off. Not your traditional stag do, but these aren’t you typical ‘lad’ lads, so it’s fitting. There’s a catch though, Ruth wants Fionnan to invite her brother, ‘The Machine’ along with the lads. After some umm-ing and ahh-ing The Machine manages to go along on the stag do, and of course, this is when chaos ensues.
As Andrew Scott rightly puts in an interview included in the DVD extras, this film is about showcasing Irish talent and making a genuinely funny, uplifting and entertaining Irish film and writer/director John Butler manages just that.
This is a big outdoor-pursuits comedy that challenges the stereotypical Irish masculinity and perfectly executed most notably by Andrew Scott, who shows his skills once again in a rather different role than you’re used to seeing him in, but one that he still manages to sink his teeth into and excel at. Peter McDonald (co-writer) is equally on form as loose cannon, The Machine, who brings much of the comedy in the form of a man who just keeps on pushing his limits and largely getting by through sheer luck and acts as the spiritual guide for the rest of the group, guiding them literally and metaphorically to where they need to go and is a refreshing character than what one such as this would normally be.
At times The Stag can fall a little flat but it’s to give the comedy a back seat to the more spiritual meaning of the film, the traditional value of men bonding away on a trip together, especially on an important event such as a stag do, a notion lost in the more modern times of binge-drinking and strippers. The comedy, though, comes flooding right back in all of its silly charm and glory and at times slap stick-ness. Led all the way by The Machine, a natural choice to lead the clueless and not so merry men, the friends start to understand each other more, reveal new secrets and problems troubling their lives and grow closer as a result.
If it isn’t The Machine’s stereotypical unwavering Irish love for U2, or the sight of five grown men doing ‘the emperor penguin’ as they huddle together, naked for warmth, it’ll be one of the other dozen scenes of side-splitting comedy that’ll keep you fixated on this surprising comedy hit. In the midst of all the silliness, The Stag never goes too big, too ‘Hangover-y’ with it’s comedy, instead keeping it grounded but still utterly hilarious.
Rating: A refreshing take on a style of film usually lost by predictability, (6/10).
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