Stuck (2007) Reviews

• The Turning Point

  loosewigg2007-10-11

  When does an ordinary person become monstrous; what is the trigger; when is the fatal turning point? Is fear an acceptable reason for selfishness, brutality and a headlong flight from responsibility? Gordon deals admirably with this dilemma using a crafty balance of horror and humor in a bloody film about a hit & run driver who becomes inhuman while the victim remains human and humane through relentless pain, shock, & bad luck. Both Stephen Rea and Mena Suvari offer up fine performances as a middle class guy down on his luck and a hard working and hard playing young woman in a tough and demanding job.

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• Stuck in the Middle with Gordon...

  anthonyjlangford2009-05-04

  Stuart Gordon made a masterpiece in Re-animator, and carved a career in the eighties out of schlock horror with a heavy foot in satire. In the nineties he managed to lose his way a little but the naughties has seen him experimenting with genres, providing his most interesting work to date. Edmond was a lurch to the left with Mamet's difficult play, but this film returns him to a genre he's more familiar with, yet the tone is firmly planted in reality. Some reviewers have suggested that Stuck is simply a thriller but I disagree. Certainly there is a grotesque sort of suspense, yet Gordon has managed to provide humanity to his victim, and show us the type of system that puts so many to the street. It also shows us how a relatively normal reaction of fear and shock can mislead even the most well meaning person into a situation which climbs out of control with devastating consequences. It will also reinforce the fact that we never know how people will react until placed into a difficult situation, ourselves included. The film never feels forced. You can believe that this actually happened, (based loosely on a true story) though this takes events to the extreme. Stephen Rea gives a constrained performance, (pun intended) as the proverbial bug. You'll feel his pain and scream for justice. I hope Stuart Gordon continues taking risks. His best work may be ahead of him.

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• The best B-movie since BOUND

  Art Snob2008-05-10

  9/16/2008 Addendum: IMPORTANT! This review applies ONLY to the 94-minute FESTIVAL cut of this film. I see that the DVD version is only 85 minutes ... do NOT buy or rent it based on this review. * * * * It's movies like this one that will keep me going to the 'Midnight Madness' program of the Toronto Film Festival forever. I saw it at last year's, and have been looking forward to a repeat viewing ever since. I love it when a low-budget film can soar above the corporate mega-movies on a clever script and a cast that gives it 110%, and this is definitely one of those movies. It gave me everything I could want in such a film – sex, drugs, and violence, with some jet-black humor for dessert. (Note to PG-13ers: AVOID!) It probably won't make a big splash when it's released theatrically, but I'd put money on it achieving cult status after coming out on video. This is easily the best work that director Stuart Gordon has done since REANIMATOR – I'd go so far as to say that it's his best ever. It's a suspense-horror-comedy full of situations that make you laugh and groan at the same time … one that's also refreshingly NOT top-heavy with f/x. The Midnight Madness program has a firm policy that a film has to grab your attention within the first 15 minutes in order to qualify for inclusion, and this film meets that requirement with room to spare. What's more, it never drags for a minute. The story is based on the bizarre true life tale of a woman who hit a homeless man with her car and let him slowly bleed to death while stuck in her windshield. Gordon calls this "the way the story should have turned out." The homeless man in this case is played by the reliable Steven Rea, whose sad eyes give him a head start on eliciting sympathy. He's newly homeless, and his fall to the bottom is cleverly punctuated by him repeatedly hearing a timeworn cliché uttered by a succession of unsympathetic characters. The woman is played by American BEAUTY's Mena Survari, and this is her richest role since that one. She finally gets to play a character who actually evolves over the course of a film, instead of just doing 9-5 duty in another eye candy role. I can't overemphasize how impressive the bang for the buck that Gordon gets with this film is. He also makes an amusing Hitchcock-style cameo (one that I'll bet Hitch himself wouldn't have minded making). There was genuinely enthusiastic applause at the screening I went to when the movie ended and the cast (except for Rea) came on for a lively Q & A. If movies lately seem a bit too tame for you, this is very likely just what the doctor ordered.

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• Sticky Situations.

  tawdry_hepburn2008-10-15

  Stuck THE FILM Stuck is a confusing film. On the one hand, the film plays as a deliciously nasty piece of black comedy, piling inhumanity on top of inhumanity and coating it all with sanguine and self-immolation. On the other hand, I have been assured by an industry friend that the film is not a comedy at all, but rather a profoundly confused wouldbe thriller full of inexcusable racist stereotypes. As the DVD has nothing in the way of special features, I have no way of knowing what Auteur/infant terrible Stuart Gordon actually had in mind. The premise is ripped straight from the strange-but-true headlines. A nurse hits a homeless man while driving drunk. She hits him so hard that he ends up lodged in her windshield. Instead of taking the man to a hospital, she drives home, leaving the man to bleed to death in her garage while she goes inside and has sex with her boyfriend. Gordon's take on the story follows the real world events quite loosely, changing most everything after the initial crash. In reality, the man died 2 hours after being hit. Here he goes through days of misadventures. These changes are a point of contention for many. In real life the victim was white and the killer was black. In the film, the victim is white and the killer is a white-trash Caucasian who can easily be read as an extremely stereotyped black woman who has simply been bleached. And this is where things get confusing. Everyone in the film is stereotyped. There is a "magic negro" who is so broad that even Steven King might find it offensive. A completely subordinate black best friend. Side-of-a-barn cruel police officers. An illegal immigrant family fueled by foolish machismo. An effete gay man walking a fluffy dog. A drug dealing, gun toting, cheating black boyfriend. Helpless, brain dead elderly. And, at the center of it all, a perfect example of "the noble poor." The acting from Stephen Rea and Mena Suvari (who also acts as producer) is quite good but the writing is either totally incompetent or brilliantly subversive. Many of the elements are incongruous. And, considering that Gordon's last film was the vastly underrated Edmond* I am inclined to believe that the film is intended to be funny. I know I laughed a lot. But, at this same time, it is entirely possible that the film is inadvertently hilarious. The whole thing is very ambiguous if you don't know Gordon's filmography. And perhaps, it is this very tension that makes the movie worthwhile. It's a horrifically mean spirited film. So dark that it makes Very Bad Things look like Adams Family Values. This bleakness is perhaps confusing some people to the larger social context of the film. Ultimately, in my mind, the film is a character study about a woman who selflessly works for rich white folks all day and engages in black culture all night. This internal tension makes her a type of Uncle Tom, regardless of her actual skin pigment. The film is about how good people are capable of evil and about how we are all culpable for the crimes of those we look down on. I've always been a Stuart Gordon fan and this film cements his status for me. Unlike most filmmakers, who cool with time Gordon is on fire. His last 3 films** might well be the best of his entire career. I can't wait to see what he does next. DVD: There are no special features, but the picture is reasonably clean and the menus are nice. I love Gordon's commentary tracks. It is sorely missed here. CONCLUSION: Stuck is not a film for everyone. Many will find it too grisly and mean spirited. Others might even find it racist. But, for a select few, the film is a hilariously painful piece of social commentary schadenfreude. A theater of cruelty, but a brilliant one. The very fact that I can see how someone might be horribly offended, but also find it to mean the exact opposite is enough reason to recommend the film. A movie to watch and discuss over coffee. FILM: A- DVD: D+ *In my mind the best David Mamet adaptation to date. ** King of Ants, Edmond, Stuck

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• Stuck: Surprisingly enjoyable

  Platypuschow2019-02-16

  Mena "American Pie" Suvari and Stephen Rea star in this remarkable little thriller that manages to deliver despite it's glaring and obvious flaws. It tells the story of a woman drunk at the wheel looking at her phone who runs into a homeless man with her car. With him embedded into her windshield she proceeds to drive home, locks the car in the garage and mulls over what to do next. I like the concept, it's handled well and Stephen Rea is fantastic as our protagonist who you really find yourself caring about to levels you rarely see. In fact I haven't cared as much about a character since The Pursuit of Happyness (2006). Essentially a thriller it has moments of black comedy, mostly due to Russell Hornsby who was really good here. The films main flaw is that it's essentially following the antagonist, the lead is the bad guy (Or girl in this case) and that comes across odd especially as it's as if you're watching her plight when she's blatantly the antagonist. Watching Rea struggle against the odds is very enjoyable and builds to a decent finale that really underlines the movies quality. Despite it's flaws this is a great film helped by a solid premise and decent cast. The Good: Stephen Rea Some great ideas The Bad: Having the antagonist as the lead is just odd I still don't like Suvari, no idea why

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