If this Screen Daily review is indicative of general critical reaction, poor Ed Burns has struck out again as a director-writer with his latest film, The Groomsmen. Apparently a kind of I Vitteloni-ish, stag-party psychological meltdown drama, it costars Burns, John Leguizamo, Britanny Murphy, Jay Mohr, Matthew Lillard and
Donal Logue. Burns’ continuing failure to re-generate or improve upon the dramatic gravity in his debut film, 1995’s The Brothers McMullen, has become a cliche, as these final two lines from reviewer Dan Fainaru suggests: “A decade or so ago [Burns] was regarded as a possible suburban answer to Woody Allen, albeit younger and better looking. But while he is certainly more handsome than his model, it is not quite enough.”