Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.From the title alone, viewers will have an idea of what to expect from Stags, the new comedy from the producers of Sex Education. We’ve been here before with films such as Last Vegas, Very Bad Things and The Hangover: rag-tag groups of friends lose their minds on pre-wedding benders and chaos ensues.Embracing this familiar premise, Stags comes out of the traps at a sprint, with soon-to-be-married Londoner Stu (Nico Mirallegro) and best buddies including Greg (People Just Do Nothing’s Asim Chaudhry) and Ant (This Country’s Charlie Cooper) moving from plane to hotel to nightclub in the space of 10 minutes. These lads know how to have a good time, even if several struggle to pinpoint where they are (we know they are in South America, but the country is never named).As shots are knocked back, drugs imbibed and the stag-in-chief empties the contents of his stomach while on the phone to his fiancée, the pace doesn’t let up until they are standing at the airport gate several days later looking exceedingly green. As customs officers stand around ostentatiously holding assault rifles, one of their number, Greg, has a seizure caused by an exploding bag of cocaine he has hidden in his rear end. The group is rounded up, duffed up, put in yellow jumpsuits and shunted on to a dinghy which deposits them on a prison island.It’s here that the action takes a left turn, as they are confronted with a Hieronymus Bosch-style hellscape where prisoners are left to run riot, guards pay no heed to the bedlam surrounding them and the new arrivals’ demands to see the British consulate fall on deaf ears. “This makes Guantánamo look bougie,” says Cavan Clerkin’s John who, as the oldest of the group, emerges as its de facto leader.All the above occurs in the frenetic first episode — the only one available to reviewers — which poses a problem: we don’t yet know enough about these hapless Brits to root for them. And while there is the occasional good line, the comedy is muffled by the unpleasantness of their predicament. There is time, of course, for Stags to find its feet, but so far the vibe is a high-speed montage of every bachelor party movie ever made.★★☆☆☆First two episodes on Paramount+ from August 15; new episodes released weekly
