The Bachelor Weekend (The Stag)

It succumbs to a few too many clichés and paper-thin characterizations to fulfill its potential.

Formulaic but effective comedy survives a performance that first threatens to overwhelm it.

Though formulaic and cartoonish, this feel-good comedy... is the sort of harmless entertainment that fuels inactive evenings in front of the tube and helps pass the time on long flights.

The Stag is formulaic and schmaltzy, and its endless 'gay' jokes jar with its warm-hearted message - but it coasts along on an undeniable likeability.

The script turns decidedly adult at times, but the content, themes and dilemmas and childish sense of fun almost give this more in common with Nativity 2 than The Hangover series.

this brisk and deadpan character study has such charm, and such bite, that the familiar tropes rise above the cliché.

Weekend does a fine job avoiding expectations, while the cast is simply perfect, managing pathos and punchlines with superb timing and feeling.

The stripped down, character centric antics of The Stag are admirable (especially considering the stigma of the bachelor party movie subgenre), though one can't help but to think that a tad more outlandishness would have done it some good.

For all the hemming and hawing and male bonding, The Bachelor Weekend is, first and foremost, utterly adorable.

The dialogue crackles and the comic action escalates in unexpected ways that will surprise you into guffaws..provides laughter with a regularity that is not to be sniffed at.

If you're in the mood for a warm-hearted Irish stag party comedy drama, then look no further.

The men bicker and bond, with old rivalries and new acceptances blossoming among the bared buttocks and breast beatings.