Sale nuit

First off, this movie was terrible. Now I have to address another issue.

People do not understand how long it takes to get a movie made. VERY BAD THINGS was released about a year after STAG. ONE YEAR. And people are saying that VBT stole the idea from STAG. WRONG!!! Peter Berg wrote VBT in his trailer during the filming of COPLAND. How could he know or care to know about the making of a lame direct-to-video movie? He wouldn't. VBT is far superior to this slow, plodding, poorly acted, poorly directed, poorly etc. movie. I can't even remember if there was a score in this movie. It doesn't matter because it was brutal. I want to know how semi-famous people like Mario Van Peebles and Ben Gazzara got roped into this trash heap of unoriginality.

1/2* (out of 10)

I rented this and 'Very Bad Things' in the same night. They both sucked. This sucked slightly less. You know a movie is in trouble when John "Skunkboy" Henson is a member of the cast. I guess we should be grateful Jon Stewart wasn't in it though, anh? Or Bill Maher, Dennis Miller, Al Franken, George Carlin, Richard Belzer or one of the many gawdawful, P.C. hacks who are passing themselves off for comedians these days. But I digress, this film sucks. Just a dumb story where guys at a bachelor party accidentally kill a stripper and instead of doing the obvious thing and calling the cops, they bitch and moan and complain about how the heck they are gonna figure a way out of this mess. Kevin Dillon makes an appearance in this movie and he's just as bad a she usually is. The only bright point is Andrew McCarthy having the guts to play a slimy, psycho bad guy with even badder teeth. You know he's the bad guy cos he wears all black. But skip this movie. Stay home and pick lint out of your bellybutton instead. You'll find it more entertaining.

I thought the movie was very professionally executed, although I didn't care for all the violence. Enjoyed some of the performances, including Taylor Dayne & Lawrence Leritz as the cop....I recognized him from TV shows.

From watching the start of the movie, i though that Stag looked quite promising. The introduction of each character, although minimalist, was quite effective... there would be a freeze frame on each character, and some text describing their occupation and past.

Unfortunately the movie takes it time to get to the crucial plot twist that this movie is based on. There's a lot of uninteresting dialog and a scene of gratuitous sex. "When's this movie going to start!" i was left thinking for a good while.

So eventually after the death of the stripper, the protagonists of the movie try to figure out what to do next. But... this is the problem... they spend the entire movie trying to figure out what to do next. And even worse, they still haven't figured out what to do even after the end credits come up. But obviously you don't expect this to happen when you first see this movie, so it's the only thing keeping you watch it.

At the end of the movie i was left feeling very unsatisfied. There could've been such an interesting story made from the idea it presents to you at the start. (Well maybe not the *start*... it does drag on quite a bit ;-) I was expecting some great little plot twists or an intelligent story, but no, the outcome in my opinion is unbelievable and unfinished.

I was up late the other night and this was on HBO. I only started to watch it because of John Henson, who I liked watching on "Talk Soup". Boy, was this a stretch for him!

"Stag"'s premise is simple enough, but the writing and cinematography were complex. As I was watching, I was reminded of another engrossing film... "Suicide Kings". Both take place in one location (mostly), and both involve a group of guys dealing with their recent actions, and a hostage. Both also have a known comedic actor (in this case Henson) doing a dramatic turn. And VERY well, I might add.

Unlike most movies, this one doesn't quite turn out like you think it will, not completely. For mostly B Actors, I was very impressed with the quality of the work. I'm also surprised more impressive talents didn't sign on after Jerry Stiller got attached to the movie! But nonetheless... if you liked "Suicide Kings" you should like "Stag" as well.