Bachelor Party Movies for a Cosy Film Night

There are plenty of ways to celebrate your stag or hen do. If you don’t want to throw yourself into a wild party, are looking for inspiration or are simply a big film fan, you might prefer a movie night with bachelor and bachelorette party films.

Here are the 10 best films about bachelor and bachelorette parties – each with a short summary and our take on which group it suits. At the end there are five tips for a cosy film night. And if you’re heading out afterwards: a film combines brilliantly with a drinking game.

The Hangover

“Hangover” is the word for the morning after a night of heavy drinking, and that’s exactly what friends Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) wake up with after a bachelor party in a hotel room in Las Vegas.

All three have blacked out, there’s a tiger sitting in the bathroom, a chicken running around somewhere, a baby in the wardrobe, and to top it all, the groom, Doug (Justin Bartha), has vanished. For the three friends, an absurd search for him begins, in which they have to piece together the events of the previous night.

At the time, the film went down well with critics and audiences alike and was praised for humour that was inventive without losing itself in pure silliness. The whole trilogy tends to be aimed at a male audience – if you believe humour has a gender.

The Hangover Part II

In the second instalment of the “Hangover” series, Stu is heading down the aisle, this time in Thailand. Stu has learned his lesson from the Las Vegas fiasco and wants to skip a stag do in the classic sense. The mere existence of the second film tells you that won’t work out, because after one (!) beer by the campfire the friends once again wake up with no memory of the night before.

Essentially, “The Hangover Part II” tries to repeat the original, running through the tried-and-tested formula once more. You may like that if that’s exactly what you were hoping for. So the film is for anyone who wants to relive the first one in a new setting.

The IMDb ratings (part 1: 7.7/10; part 2: around 6.5/10) and the reviews reflect that, though. Commercially, part 2 is the most successful of the series, with box-office takings of 586 million US dollars, but that may also be down to the first film’s good reputation.

The Hangover Part III

Alan has stopped taking his psychiatric medication on his own initiative, accidentally decapitated a giraffe and, through his behaviour, given his father a fatal heart attack. At the funeral, his three friends realise that Alan urgently needs professional help.

On the way to the treatment centre, the men are forced off the road and captured by gangsters, who, because of events from the earlier films (no spoilers), force them into a heist.

So instead of rehashing the formula of the first two films once again, “The Hangover Part III” turns into more of a heist comedy, which is why critics often liked it better than the first sequel, while some fans with very different expectations were disappointed.

Last Vegas

“Last Vegas” brings together some Hollywood veterans: Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline play Billy, Paddy, Archie and Sam, who have been a gang since childhood.

Billy (Douglas) wants to get married one more time (his bride-to-be is 40 years younger than him), and so they head off for a pensioners’ bachelor party in Vegas.

“Last Vegas” is a comedy about growing older and friendship that scores above all with the self-irony of its leads. It isn’t a non-stop barrage of gags, though; it also strikes more serious, thoughtful and emotional notes, which makes it one for anyone who wants more from their film-night comedy than one punchline after another.

Bridesmaids

If you think only men are immature and crude, “Bridesmaids” will teach you otherwise, as Kristen Wiig, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper play bridesmaids competing for the favour of the bride (played by Maya Rudolph) and hardly miss out on a single conceivable disaster along the way – true to Murphy’s Law: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

But it’s also the story of Kristen Wiig’s character Annie, who is slowly but surely driven to despair by the people around her.

In 2011, “Bridesmaids” was the surprise box-office hit, taking 288 million US dollars, and was also praised by critics, who often stressed that it wasn’t just a comedy for a female audience.

JGA: Jasmin. Gina. Anna.

Singles Jasmin (Luise Heyer), Gina (Taneshia Abt) and Anna (Teres Rizos) want to throw a bachelorette party in Ibiza for their friend Helena (Julia Hartmann), but the bride is pregnant and pulls out. That doesn’t stop the three women from going ahead with the planned bash.

Then they run into Jasmin’s ex-boyfriend Tim (Dimitrij Schaad), who in turn wants to celebrate a stag do in Ibiza with his friends Simon (Trystan Pütter) and Stefan (Axel Stein). The problem: Jasmin isn’t over Tim.

The characters stumble from one embarrassment to the next in this film, so it’s almost a miracle that the audience feels any empathy amid all the cringing. As the gender of the leads suggests, though, this German comedy is aimed more at a female audience.

American Wedding – American Pie 3

Some film franchises grow up with their target audience, so the third part of the “American Pie” series – which started as a teen comedy about losing your virginity and continued with a story about finding true love – is only logical: as the title gives away, this time it’s about a wedding.

Jim (Jason Biggs) has proposed to his Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), without reckoning on his crude, never-grown-up high-school friend Stifler (Seann William Scott), whose escapades repeatedly land him in embarrassing situations in front of his future in-laws before the wedding.

When “American Pie” meets the bachelor party, you can guess what’s coming: crude humour seasoned with a pinch of second-hand embarrassment. No wonder the film got a lukewarm reception from critics. But it certainly has its audience in everyone who isn’t too posh to laugh at a dirty joke now and then – whatever their gender.

The Wedding (Die Hochzeit)

Let’s say it as it is: if you watch a film by and starring Til Schweiger, Germany’s best-known comedy director and actor, you know what you’re getting – whether you like it is another matter. “Die Hochzeit” is the sequel to “Klassentreffen 1.0” (“Class Reunion 1.0”) and, like it, a remake of a Danish film.

Thomas (Schweiger) wants to marry his girlfriend Linda (Stefanie Stappenbeck), but his friend Torben (Thomas Heinze) dies at his stag do. Together with his friends Nils (Samuel Finzi) and Andreas (Milan Peschel) and Linda’s daughter Lilli (Lilli Schweiger), Thomas now has to go to the funeral. When it’s delayed, it becomes doubtful whether they’ll all make it to the wedding on time.

As we said: it’s a typical Schweiger comedy, and its target audience is anyone who otherwise enjoys his films. The critics did at least note that it was better than its predecessor.

A Few Best Men

Brit David (Xavier Samuel) has met Mia (Laura Brent) while travelling and wants to marry her. The ceremony is to take place on Mia’s parents’ estate in Australia. As David is an orphan with no family of his own, only his three best friends and best men, Tom (Kris Marshall), Graham (Kevin Bishop) and Luke (Tim Draxl), go with him Down Under.

If you’re now expecting a romantic comedy with refined British humour, you’re barking up the wrong tree: the best men turn the wedding party into a madhouse in which a ram is abused, cocaine is snorted and everyone wallows in self-pity. But if you’re into brutal, anarchic humour, you’ll get your money’s worth here.

You Only Live Once – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Bollywood meets Spain, bachelor party meets extreme sports – that’s essentially the formula of the Indian comedy “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara” (“You Only Live Once”).

After proposing to Natasha (Kalki Koechlin), Kabir (Abhay Deol) organises a bachelor party in Spain for himself and his best friends Imran (Farhan Akhtar) and Arjun (Hrithik Roshan), on which each of them picks an adventurous sport for all three to try. The three have been planning this trip for a long time as a sworn pact. The trip turns into a journey of self-discovery full of twists.

In India the film was showered with awards, and even if you’d probably file it as more of a women’s film, men with a romantic streak will get their money’s worth too.

Five tips for a cosier film night

Step 1: The film

Yes, you really should have worked out in advance where you can stream it, or whether you need to get hold of it on DVD or Blu-ray because none of the streaming services you subscribe to has the film. Equipment plays a part too: streaming needs an internet connection, physical discs need the right player. A big screen with a good sound system isn’t to be sniffed at either.

Step 2: Seating

Everyone should be able to sit or lie comfortably. So if the sofa isn’t big enough for everyone, it isn’t enough to bring in the dining chairs or put cushions on the floor, because nobody wants to sit in front of the TV like that for two hours or more. A guest mattress works better, because anything soft enough to sleep on is soft enough to sit on. Maybe someone in your group has a beanbag – it’s easy to carry and comfortable.

Step 3: Snacks

Lay on snacks and drinks and make sure there’s something for everyone. Not everything is to everyone’s taste, and not everyone can eat everything. That means: don’t just put out five kinds of crisps, but also pretzel sticks, biscuits, chocolate in bite-sized form – something like Celebrations, Maltesers or Minstrels – and liquorice. The same goes for drinks, but you surely know your best friends well enough to know what they like.

Step 4: Cinema atmosphere

As you’ll probably be meeting in the evening, this shouldn’t be too hard: darken the room or turn the lights off. You should already have sorted out the right technical set-up. That leaves one thing: try to avoid distractions – phones off, and unplug the landline if need be – only if none of you is expecting a genuinely life-or-death call, of course.

Step 5: Breaks

For any film that breaks the 90-minute mark, it’s a good idea to take a short break after about an hour. It lets you clear your head for a moment, and loo breaks have to happen now and then anyway, so nobody feels guilty about everyone having to wait for them.

We hope there was something for you here – have fun watching the 10 best bachelor party movies!