There are different types of precious….but one of the most is friendship. Where is a Dark Lord when you need one? Well, for friends unified in another time and place by Dungeons and Dragons, a stag-do is clearly the way forward for one day.
LOST ON THE ROAD, directed by Matthew Highton and co-written with Briony Redman and Richard Soames, doesn’t require a lot of intellectual involvement and harks back to the heady days during Channel 4‘s inception in November 1982 when THE COMIC STRIP homaged Enid Blyton in the deliciously vicious ‘Famous Five‘ spoof ‘FIVE GO MAD IN DORSET‘ (served up with ‘Lashings of Ginger Beer!!!’)
Although this is not an extreme case like some of the ‘Alternative Comedy‘ generation of funny-people (including the likes of Adrian Edmondson, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Alexei Sayle, Ben Elton and the late Rik Mayall), hold fire as this highly improvised – and very funny – piece combines the cheerfulness of THE HANGOVER and INBETWEENERS with an astute homage to LORD OF THE RINGS.
You don’t really need a lot of brainpower to get where this is going. Meet this ‘Wolfpack‘, groom-to-be Jack and his ever-reliable friends Claire, Ruff and Phil. The drinks are flowing and a countryside odyssey that leads to the nearest aisle (or pub)
However, like that quartet in Vegas back in 2008, things are never straightforward. Somewhere in the mix, echoing that killer rabbit in MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, is an equally murderous goose, a cyclist who is determined to ride like the wind and a hen party determined to give the group a run for their money….
The fun in this film is not predicting how this will end, but in the journey and lead-up to when. Thanks to much-improvised dialogue what it may lack in production value, it compensates for the sheer level of fun. The references to the Peter Jackson opener from 2001, the willingness to just go with the silliness and great chemistry from the cast all add to a highly entertaining comedy that provides for its’ resources something that has it all.
LOST ON THE ROAD featured in the 2026 October Edition of London Independent Film Festival.
Tickets until 11th October 2026 are available here for the remaining films: