TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Tony Chaidez That's all I can say to describe this film. Now I can appreciate it not being another wannabe Hangover movie but come on. How can this be described as a comedy? Yes there are a few funny grunt moments here and there but the whole thing just comes off as annoying. By the way The Machine? How many times does a character have to call someone by their nickname beginning with The? The overuse of this nickname is mind-numbing, yes that's his nickname but why not just say "hey, machine" after mentioning him in the beginning? You never hear the characters in Old School refer to Hank as Hank The Tank every single time they mention him or speak to him in the movie. Why? Because it get's irritating. Now I understand that past reviewers have mentioned the deep message in the film, and while I appreciate it, it just doesn't flow well with the promotion of this movie. The title is called The Stag, set in Ireland, with the movie poster depicting what you might think would be a hilarious stag party set in Ireland. But no. Instead it's about a web designer, a gay couple, two best friends who are in love with the same woman and a guy who calls himself The Machine (which is a really bad nickname to give someone, the writers could've been a little more creative in this area) running around in the woods like...well as Red Forman would say, "a bunch of dumba****.The characters and the general idea of a stag party in Ireland is a great premise for a film. But the story is just not what I was expecting. Why not have it start in the city and then with the crazy antics with the so called The Machine all of a sudden end up in the outskirts of the city and then get lost in the woods. Simple outline just write a raunchy creative story. And I'm sorry but the whole Ruth breaking up with Davin and then getting with his best friend just seems shady on her part for not telling Fionan about it. Just makes me wonder if she can be all that faithful to Fionan after their marriage. If it was some random guy then whatever but it was the guy's best friend. Have some decency.Well that's pretty much it, as I said before the message is a great one and that's the only reason I'm giving it a 5 out 10. Without it it would just be a really stale more dramatic than comedic story about a enlightening journey through the woods.

Ileana Cecanu I was enjoying every second of this film. All actors did an amazing job, they were so natural, the situations of the plot made them so hilarious, I was empathizing with them from the first second. Peter McDonald as THE MACHINE is so funny and powerful in his part. I was watching this film in a room full of people from different parts of the world and we all couldn't stop laughing. I will say about this film that it's pure humanity and if you want to relax, have a good time, enjoy some very good plot and amazing acting, this is the perfect title. And I never knew that both Andrew Scott and peter McDonald can sing so well, I was really impressed, not there is a musical inside, but they had a few moments when they did this. My favorite part is with them running through the woods at night. That was pure fun.

hediditallrelaxed Marketed as an Irish version of The Hangover, cinema goers expecting to see a gross-out outlandish comedy will be left disappointed. In its place they will find a charming, genuinely touching and not to mention hilarious comedy drama. This is a movie that belongs more in the realism of Barrytown then the fantasy world of Las Vegas.At her wits end with fiancée Fionan's (Hugh O'Conor) obsessing over every detail of their upcoming nuptials (particularly in one fantastic scene with wedding planner Justine Mitchell – who nearly walks off with the film in her brief scene), Ruth (Amy Huberman), enlists the help of his best man Davin (Moriarty himself, Andrew Scott) to take the metro… Politan Fionan away for a stag weekend. He is joined by mild mannered U2 denier Simon (Brian Gleeson), gay couple Kevin and Kevin (Andrew Bennett and Michael Legge) and, against his best efforts, by Ruth's boorish brother, known as The Machine (Moone Boy's Peter McDonald).The set up is nothing original, with everything from The Hangover to last year's Few Best Men mining the pre-wedding blow-out as an excuse for raunchy, far flung mayhem. What sets this film apart is that none of the cast fall into their expected token role. The Machine could quite easily have turned into the movie's equivalent of Stiffler but McDonald (who also co-wrote the script) is in spectacular form, grounding his character with real depth and a realism to any group of friends who all have that 'one' within the group. He never crosses the line to offensive or tasteless and, as a result, the audience is rewarded with a character that resembles an actual person as opposed to a catchphrase spouting bore.The cast are excellent across the board, Brian Gleeson (son of Irish film legend Brendan) shows enough guile and put upon humor to suggest it won't be too long before his name isn't suffixed with his famous father's name and becomes a respected talent in his own right. Andrew Bennett and Michael Legge convey a wonderful chemistry as a couple plagued with all too real and topical problems and thankfully their sexuality is never played for tasteless laughs. Their story arc is beautifully handled and threatens to overshadow the main plot, which sees tensions between Davin and Fionan simmering to a boil due to the best man's feelings towards his friend's fiancée. Scott, fresh from his reappearance in Sherlock, gives a wonderfully nuanced performance, his eyes tinged with sadness while maintaining his loyalty to his best friend. The duality is never conveyed better than during his heartbreaking rendition of the Patrick Kavanagh classic Raglan Road, which hopefully will find its way into the soundtrack. Stuck with what could have been the least interesting role in the movie theater, stand out Hugh O'Conor inhibits Fionan with enough restraint so as to never make the character a whiny cliché, but also stands his ground enough that we never want to just see him cast aside for the more romantic Davin to step in. It is a very tricky balancing act and O'Conor, who has been on the cusp of a break out role for the past few years, absolutely nails it.The film though will ultimately live and die by one measuring stick, is it funny? And on that front the film is a massive success. Foregoing any artificially outrageous set pieces – no tigers or giraffe decapitations here. The film instead relies on the delivery of its talented cast, along with its slick humor and stinging one liners. This is not to say that director John Butler is above moments of crudeness, as he puts his game cast through the ringer during one unforgettable reenactment of the Emperor Penguin huddle. It is a nice commentary on male bonding rituals without ever sacrificing story for laughs. It is the best Irish film for quite some time and seems destined to be spoken about in the same terms as The Snapper or The Commitments. Highly recommended. www.followingthenerd.com

harliquinz I sat down in the mood for a nice little light hearted comedy, as the previous reviews on IMDb had promised. A look at the nine and ten out of ten scores and an overall of 6.5 gave me the idea that if not brilliant, would have some laughs and be a decent film. How wrong I was. This is the sort of film that has adopted the 'all men are useless, clueless, fools, but in touch with their feminine sides' school of film making. The main characters are clunky, inept caricatures that one could have been forgiven for thinking that they had originally been written as pre adolescent girls, not grown men. Their ineptitude was the set up for the "comedy", which was just not funny and seemed very contrived. It all just served to irritate after a very short while and continued to do so as the film progressed. The line up consisted of some rather quite good actors and i'm not sure if it was the awful script, bed set ups, bad direction, miscasting or a combination of all the above, but non of their previously seen talent could have cut through this drivel with a chainsaw. I should think most of them will be embarrassed to have this movie on their C.V's. I think all in all, the high rating given to this film must be from interested parties skewing the figures and will in time even out when more people have faced the ordeal of sitting through this lame excuse for a comedy. i would avoid this one, go paint the fence or something, it'll be more productive.