sol1218 **SPOILERS** An anything goes wild stag party turns into a nightmare for all those involved with half of the participants ending up dead, from gunshots beatings suicide and even a heart-attack, and the other half having their lives ruined forever.It didn't have to happen this way it was just to be an evening of good natured fun for the person that the party was being thrown for "Entrepreneur of the Year" Victor Mallick, John Stockwell. Victor about to get married had everything going for him in both business and marriage but that went down the drain together with his freedom by the time the night of horrors ended. Victor now faces some seven years behind bars with his good friend and business partner attorney Michael Barnes, Mario Van Peebles, turning states evidence against him.As for that slick and slimy shyster, who's running for city council, Michael Barnes all his back-stabbing and legal maneuvering in the end will not only have his license to practice law revoked but have him end up as Victor's cell-mate. Michael as smart as he was, in saving his lousy neck, overlooked an object that recorded the entire sleazy cover-up that he orchestrated. A good old video camcorder that was accidentally left, during all the confusion, on record mode!The party at first was going as expected with everyone getting juiced on booze and drugs until two, paid for their services, strippers Kelly together with her older sister Serena, Jenny McShane & Taylor Dayne, and their friend Stoker, William Parel,unexpectedly dropped in. Dressed as policemen the three, Kelly Serena & Stoker, ended up setting off the by now out of control and excited party-goers to the point where Kelly ended up dead with her spine broken.Trying to cover up Kelly's death, which in fact was accidental, the stag-party goer made things a lot worse in trying to protect their careers and reputations by acting like criminals more then just someone, or someones, who're victims of circumstances. A lot like the movie "12 Angry Men" we get to see the guest of honor Victor and his drinking and partying buddies try to justify their actions that lead to Kelly's death. In justifying their actions Victor & Co. do things far worse, and with full knowledge of what their doing, then what they did to the deceased Kelly by accident! What we get is a night of planning conniving and executing crimes that in the end would put the entire cast of characters, with the exception of those who ended up dead, behind bars for up to fifteen years.The film "Stag" shows how a group of totally innocent and, with the exception of the stag party's drug supplier ex-con Pete Webber (Andrew McCarthy), upright citizens can in their unfounded fear be whipped up to commit a number of major crimes in a frantic effort to save their jobs freedoms and reputations. Webber, the drug dealer, being a career criminal was anything but concerned in murdering those who can implicate him in Kelly's death. It was fascinating to see Webber's, who should have known better, plan since the worst that he, having really nothing to lose, could get is breaking his parole not losing a six figure job in the business legal sports or entertainment world. ***SPOILER ALERT***The person at the party who was just there because he was Victor's good friend, not that he was a big success in anything, Gulf War Vet Dan Kane, Kevin Dillion, was the only one who seemed to have his head screwed on straight. Trying to do the right thing Ken almost gets himself shot by non-other then Victor, in trying to save his a**, who didn't know who his friends really were until the police put the cuffs on him. Victor trusted his good friend and business partner Michael Barnes who's testimony sent him up the river without a paddle and, when he was to be released, job to support his very expensive lifestyle.P.S What a difference things would have been for Victor, as well as those at the stag party, if he just listened to his friend Ken. Ken, unlike Michael Barnes, looked after Victor's best interests not those of his own. In the end the almost invisible, to those at the party, camcorder, and what it recorded, was the evidence that got Ken off the hook as well as hooked Victor and his friends into the sate penitentiary.

elshikh4 ..Actually think about a hidden meaning at the title. (Stag) is obviously the party for a single man who is getting married which is exclusively for men only (and no problem if there are some strippers too !). But on the other hand the same word (Stag) could mean : betray, deceive, or something for men only ! And what a banquet of successive reciprocal treachery we had among a bunch of men who represented the degeneration's ugliest degree, the most evil trends and the vilest unity at all whether as men, friends, or creatures of lamentable contemporary bourgeois ! It's about some men of the American middle class having a hard time with an accident they never plan whom eventually didn't ever make the right ideal choice to end up as true criminals like their own truth from the start which is hiding behind old masks without a bloody chance everyday ! That same situation made other movies like (Very Bad Things – 1998) and (100 Mile Rule - 2002), but at (Stag – 1997) it had a reasonable treatment as a fine studying for that terrifying weakness in such a class, a solid atmosphere (one place in just one night), along with thrilling time too. The acting was sober (for example it's the best performance of Jerry Stiller yet), and the event's panic was cinematically well expressed. Here the social commentary was outstanding compared to the other 2 movies. Let alone a few smart touches (Jerry Stiller raises the American flag as the carnage ends in the morning !, Tom Jones sings "Let me love you tonight" at the opining credit ! ..etc). But it had of course its own flaws..Yes, it got the best analysis for its characters and their hidden past (one of them killed before and he got away with it ! As all of them are hidden killers in a way !). Though the script resorted to nasty phrases on screen to speak about every character ! Like it was hard to present them out of the stag, yet maybe they were too many to present which leads us to the logical question : Why are they 10 characters ?! That's numerous ! Especially when the script didn't make the stage as an epitome for the American society cleverly with balanced concentration on them all.Moreover, I felt some rashness at the third act. For sure I loved that bloody massacre at the end (and by the most poor character as the lower class against the unjust higher one) nevertheless, it's just an ending where the bad guys went to prison easily by the tape of the video camera ! I thought that this complete nightmare must end in a harmonious hideousness when all, or most, of them get away with it having the enduring concealed pain, as ordinary killers living among us dressed like usual humans but they are all beasts inside. However the movie selected a regular happy end ! Bloody but with all our emotions had been vaporized with all of those sick culprits under a suitable punishment ! It could be satisfying for the viewers, but not that satisfying for the case of the story.Anyway, it was all good well-meaning as a cinematic social incubus which is too annoying, and not that forgettable as its counterparts of the same satire at the same time.

departed07 Stag came out first before Very Bad Things. What is better about Stag is the dark elements it has: a bachelor party disaster, nobody walking out alive, and who is going to die first. anyway, very bad things ripped off the idea of a dead stripper falling flat on her face, but what I liked about Stag is that it wasn't too much of a dark comedy, but a normal thriller that should've been in the theaters. So I'm going to give it my thumbs up.

Mark Carpenter 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.