Week-end de débauche

I somehow ran across this title after review of the title 'Calvary' (2014), another film from the Irish Film Board that I was impressed with. I was quite delighted with this tale of a bachelor stag gone awry, that didn't take the low road of comedy, as the infamous 'Hangover' Trilogy.

Long time friends Davin and Fionan find themselves planning and impromptu stag party for the rather effeminate and polite groom. What starts off as a simple little camping trip between 5 friends turns into a rather long evening of mishaps, bad decisions, and inconveniences. Enter 'The Machine,' brilliantly played by Peter McDonald, the grooms soon to be brother in-law, and a character of insulting bravado, who acts as an instigator throughout the film. Things begin nicely enough, but little by little, plans get skewed and they all end up off course.

What made this film such a pleasure was how real the whole situation seems. If you've ever been hiking with friends, you learn very quickly who are the capable friends, and who are not. This film delightfully plays into this idea, when friendships are tested out in the wilderness after a few slight mishaps. At no point did this film scream fake, and I found myself laughing along with the banter. Each character brings a little bit of their own humour in this film, and each personality was perfect for their role. The run on jokes are timed very well, and even though you know they might be coming, they still deliver laughs.

A great heartfelt comedy, funny and smart throughout.

6/10

Five middle-class Irish men go away on a hiking weekend to celebrate Fionnan's (Hugh O'Conor's) stag-party. They spend a lot of time and money trying to find the appropriate gear, and look forward to enjoying themselves. Unfortunately their leisure-time looks as if it might ruined by the presence of The Machine (aka Richard) (Peter McDonald), a boorish bully, who just so happens to be Fionnan's future brother-in-law.

The basic scenario of John Butler's film provides the basis for a weekend of discovery, as all six men realize that their preconceptions have turned out to be false. Fionnan, a slightly metrosexual personality who did not really want to go away at all, finds out something about his best friend Davin's (Andrew Scott's) past that puts their relationship to the test. The two Kevins (Michael Legge, Andrew Bennett) understand that they are not really social outcasts after all, even in the eyes of Fionnan's father (John Kavanagh). The Machine turns out to be a vulnerable person, covering up his personality deficiencies under a veil of bravado. On the other hand, he has a devil-may-care attitude to life that exposes some of the middle- class pretensions of his five fellow- hikers.

Butler and McDonald's script contains some very funny moments, especially when we see Davin trying to negotiate plans for his wedding with the planner Linda (Justine Mitchell), who obviously has little or no clue about what he is saying. The film contains some neat set pieces - notably the sequence where The Machine inadvertently sets fire to the tent, forcing the hikers to live rough, something they had never really anticipated. They had simply viewed the hike as an extension of their middle-class existence; now they have really been catapulted 'back to nature'. Later on they throw off their clothes and go for a naked midnight swim; unfortunately the idea goes horribly wrong, forcing all of them to confront themselves totally unclothed, both physically and emotionally.

The basic scenario of THE BACHELOR WEEKEND (aka THE STAG) might be a familiar one - the importance of male bonding as a means of self- discovery - but the material has been handled with a light touch. In the end the film has an important point to make about friendship and trust as the basis of any effective relationship between people, irrespective of their gender. Needless to say, the action ends happily with everyone reconciled and Davin manages to wed his fiancée Ruth (Amy Huberman).

I'm not quite sure why this film has so many bad reviews. I know a lot of people saw the trailer and dismissed it as a Hangover wannabe, but this film was far from it.

The cast was amazing and the film had a surprising depth to it, I was expecting a silly stag comedy, but instead got a movie that was really character-focused, rather than situation-focused. I do disagree with the film being renamed for American audiences, because the film has the word "Stag" in it multiple times, and honestly, you can sort of work it out. "The Bachelor Weekend" really does sound like the name of a bad rip off of The Hangover from a $2 shop.

The only other issue I had with it was the lack of chemistry between the bride and the groom, but they're not seen together much in the film so it's pretty much a non-issue. Don't watch this film if you're looking for a trashy comedy, it's probably not for you.

It actually felt a bit like The World's End, there was plenty of comedy, and the cinematography was brilliant, but the main focus was on a few metro men in their mid thirties being strung along by a madman.

A frothy romp, encompassing all those aspects of the human condition designed by a bored deity for the amusement of pilgrims trudging the road to happy destiny: nudity, the institution of marriage, and the question that has bedevilled the Boy Scout movement since Baden Powell's day: whether to jerk off inside or outside the communal tent. But for this critic the film was lifted out of the ordinary by the virtuoso performance of B. McCaughley (as B. McCaughly) as father of the bride. I thought he brought to the role a perfect balance between the gravitas, the graceful aplomb, of a James Robertson Justice and the elfin charm of an arthritic David Norris. His performance will come as no surprise to stage cognoscenti, who will not easily forget Honey, Well I shrunk the Kids (1980), or the hilarious frilly-knickers tour-de-force Under the Boardwalk (1991). And breathes there a cinema buff who has not gripped the edge of his tip-up seat throughout the thrilling 2002 suspense drama The Smoking Hoover? But it is a sad measure of the parochialism of the Irish cinema scene that this splendid thespian is nowadays better known among the tattooed and bearded roughnecks of the Oakland chapter than among the Great Unwashed in the one-and-thruppenies here at home.

-Shallow focus framing ignores beautiful Irish scenery as well as being shot on digital doesn't do it justice -Dodgy accent at times for The Machine, might be a conscious decision to differentiate character -Male friendships fraught and acts of forgiveness as out of bounds -Laughs come from the visual gags and slapstick instead of dialogue -Reminiscent of Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) with string music, animal fur and dog chases -The frenetic energy rolls it all along up and down the mountain -The subtext of the older generations lack of progressive thought hiding in the background is played put well -Andrew Scott 2010s work is seriously under appreciated -As far as nude comedies go its better than Nude Tuesday (2022) in my opinion.