There have been a ton of bachelor party themed movies over the years with The Hangover series and Bachelor Party being the most popular, but more often than not they miss the mark. The latest Stag takes their stab at the genre with Donald Faison leading the charge, but does it manage to deliver the goods?
Stag follows a guy who has always been known as the orchestrator of all the greatest pranks at all of his buddies' stag parties, but now it's his turn. Now he nervously waits his own fate that he is sure his buddies have in store for him, but the payback is more than he could have imagined. While this film is a far cry from the Hangover it does manage to be a fairly entertaining little film. With these kinds of movies there is an important decision to make and that is how far they are going to go. This means a lot to this genre as the more successful ones usually have no rules and push the boundaries in all areas. Here they played it safe for the most part and felt more like aspects of a TV movie as opposed to a real stag party. They were going for a more character ensemble comedy which is fine, but this setting kind of got thrown to the back burner instead of being the focus. Every time things seem to be getting going on the party side some story aspect interrupts it and leaves you hanging. Knowing that, everyone did a fine job with what they were working with, but just never really stepped out of average. There are some funny moments, but there are also some more drama-esque aspects that felt a bit out of place.
This isn't a horrible movie by any means, it is actually pretty entertaining, but there are just a lot of missed opportunities here on both sides of the story. For those expecting a hardcore bachelor party you will be sorely disappointed. There is only one piece of nudity and it is pretty quick and the hijinks are pretty tame, but if you can let that go given the subject matter then you will probably still have some fun.
