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46 out of 66 people found the following review useful: The Turning Point, 11 October 2007 Author: loosewigg from United States
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.
35 out of 52 people found the following review useful: The best B-movie since BOUND, 10 May 2008 Author: Art Snob from Rochester, NY USA
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.
18 out of 26 people found the following review useful: Sticky Situations., 15 October 2008 Author: straighttovideo from United States
StuckTHE 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
20 out of 31 people found the following review useful: Moral Ambiguity at its best, 3 August 2008 Author: Knuckle from United States
Watching "Stuck" is not a comfortable experience. Beyond the obvious gut-wrenching events of the film, it will make you wonder, "What would I do in a similar situation?" Stuart Gordon's direction is excellent, as is John Strysik's screenplay. Together they set the stage perfectly for what could easily be an unbelievable series of events. Such is their skill in their respective arenas that you never once feel that the story is contrived.Mena Suvari and Stephen Rea both deserve kudos as well. It would be easy to lose interest or feel trapped (in a bad way) given the unavoidably claustrophobic nature of the story. Both Rea and Suvari's performances, however, are so fantastic that my interest never waned.Russell Hornsby, Rukiya Bernard, and Carorlyn Purdy-Gordon add the details to this world that bring it all together. Russell and Rukiya, as Suvari's boyfriend and friend respectively, are fantastic. Purdy-Gordon's turn as Mena Suvari's boss gives us just the right amount of evil-employer without delving into satire.All in all, a fantastic movie.
7 out of 9 people found the following review useful: Stranger than Fiction!, 15 November 2008 Author: gradyharp from United States
STUCK is one of those films that creeps up on you, teases you into thinking a comedy is in the making, then slowly reveals itself as what seems to be an exposé of our current manner of getting through life, of competing in the workplace, and of self absorption to the point of endangering those around us. The fact that the film is based on a true story as adapted by director Stuart Gordon and transformed into a bitingly satirical screenplay by John Strysik increases the impact of this well-crafted little low budget film. Watch it once for the gritty content of the story, then watch it again to appreciate all of the very dark (and very pointed!) humor in what at first appears to be a grisly tale. Brandi Boski (Mena Suvari) works as a Nurse's Aid in a nursing home of senile elderly patients, giving some of the finest care for those entrusted to her talents. Brandi's compassionate work is noted by the supervisor Peterson (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon) who manages to trick Brandi into an even heavier work schedule by suggesting a raise in position. Excited about her possible promotion Brandi and her working partner Tanya (Rukiya Bernard) celebrate that evening with Brandi's boyfriend/drug supplier Rashid (Russell Hornsby) who gives Brandi a pill of Ecstasy and the mixture of the drug with the alcohol creates a mess of Brandi's mind. The parallel story involves one jobless Thomas Bardo (Stephen Rea) who lives in a tenement, is evicted because of past due rent, and becomes a street person, treated with cold (but satirical) mechanical responses at the Department of Unemployment. Left to sleep in the park he is befriended by another homeless person, given a shopping cart, and makes his way toward a midnight mission. Brandi cum altered thought processes drives home, hits Thomas who comes sailing through her windshield badly injured, and out of fear and distress Brandi merely takes the 'stuck' Thomas home to park him in her garage, knowing that her boyfriend Rashid will help her. Thomas is conscious, unable to climb out of the glass of the crushed windshield and begs for help. How the stranded and injured Thomas is treated by the desperate but self-centered Brandi, by the frightened but macho Rashid, and by neighbors who fear intervention because of reporting an incident that would encourage police intervention and threaten their deportation as illegal immigrants results in an ending that shows how 'justice' can prevail! The cast is first rate - especially Rea, Suvari, Hornsby and Bernard. The direction is tight and maintains credible characters in incredible situations and holds the audience attention every moment. This is a fine example of how a low budget film, in the hands of pros, can be more successful that the big budget, less thoughtful movies that crowd our marquis. Grady Harp
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Great retelling, 16 August 2009 Author: Kellie Stewart from United States
This was an excellent retelling of a true story. The only part of the movie that is actually true is that a female who was drinking and doing drugs hit a homeless man. He lodged in her windshield and she didn't know what to do, so she parked her car in her garage and kept coming to check on him and apologizing. She got 10 years for it and her boyfriend got 9 years. The movie was excellently done and the story was well told. This greatly embellished from actual events, but that is what made the movie worth watching. The fight to live from the man that was hit was inspiring. The real man did have both legs broken and he did have a son. As a movie, it was a good piece of reality mixed with fiction. As an actual event, it's just sad that someone could be so heartless.
9 out of 14 people found the following review useful: OOOH, that's GOTTA hurt!, 29 March 2008 Author: gregorgeous from Dallas, Texas
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Just saw this movie at the AFI Dallas Film Festival (with star Stephen Rea and the scriptwriter in attendance), and it is excellent! When I read of the premise to the film, I HAD to see it - I was living in Fort Worth at the time of the real incident that inspired the film. Note that "Stuck" is not the true story, but instead a thriller that uses that story as a jumping-off point; as such, the film is free to diverge from that original truth to tell its own grisly and intriguingly moralistic tale. And it delivers the goods: it's suspenseful and believable throughout, with great work by both Stephen Rea and Mena Suvari, surprising plot twists, some REALLY painful stuff to watch (including a wicked girlfight scene and an oh-my-God scene involving a Pekinese dog), and the combination of bloody visuals and dark humor for which director Stuart Gordon is renowned. Kudos also for the sly opening credit sequence, with a profanity-laden rap track played over old people slowly taking drugs (their medications) in an old folks' home. This film is better than most Hollywood thrillers of recent times, and would make an excellent double-feature with "Misery". Highly recommended!
23 out of 42 people found the following review useful: Horror? No! Dark comedy? Definitely!, 25 August 2008 Author: bexandbarn from Spain
Lovers of the horror genre who like their movies to be full of blood and action, like the two people who commented on this and gave it a low rating, should perhaps stay clear of this one. Yes, there are some bloody moments but I think this movie being primarily in the horror genre here on IMDb is a big mistake. To me, this was funny as hell and those who criticise it for being too full of 'that wouldn't happen' moments have completely missed the point.The film is ludicrous but intentionally so, and it is the preposterous nature of the situations where the comedy lies. There are many cringe-worthy moments throughout but again these add to the laughs. Sure, one can look deeper at this tale and argue it is an exploration of morality, but that is down to an excellent and believable script which allows the watcher to interpret the movie on different levels.If your humour is quite sick then you will get a lot of enjoyment out of this film. It is slick, well acted and directed and highly original. One of the best films I've seen in a long time.
5 out of 7 people found the following review useful: Truly enjoyable and disturbing!, 13 November 2008 Author: Ulf Andersson from Sweden
I thought I would give it ten minutes, no expectations whatsoever, but I found myself completely captivated after five minutes and I had an absolutely pure, simple movie experience, like movies are supposed to be. Simple plot, excellent acting, interesting yet plausible characters. Like a "Fargo" light.I read in a chat room that Mena Suvari's character was not believable, but I strongly disagree. One of the strengths of the movie was, that despite the lead character's horrid actions, she felt very real; a young, unintelligent woman, who completely lacked any understanding of true values, but who still was convincingly portrayed as a person with a warm heart and an appreciated colleague. I do not know how she pulls it off... just brilliant. Also Stephen Rea was great in every scene, but did not have a very challenging part to play. Not a single scene was too long or too short or unnecessary. Just an exquisite little piece! Truly enjoyable and disturbing!
7 out of 11 people found the following review useful: Another quality product from a horror vet, 13 June 2008 Author: fertilecelluloid from Mountains of Madness
Stuart Gordon's next film after the excellent "Edmund" is "Stuck", another quality product that is getting a limited theatrical release. A young woman (Mena Suvari), who is slightly high, hits a down-on-his-luck man (Stephen Rea) who wasn't looking where he was going. Treating the man more as a nuisance than as a victim, the woman abandons the idea of taking him to the hospital and takes him home instead -- to her garage. The woman's life gets increasingly more complicated when the man refuses to die in her windscreen. John Strysik's screenplay explores the hardening of attitudes towards death and the demise of sympathy within the structure of a grisly horror pic. Gordon does a great job of setting up the lives of the two leads before they, quite literally, intersect. The scenes of Rea attempting to extract his broken body from from the crushed windscreen are howlingly gross (and fun). The special make-up effects are convincing and the naturalistic cinematography by Denis Maloney perfectly compliments Gordon's intentions. Like the director's first feature, "Re-Animator", this is original, thrilling, intelligent, and bloody. It's funny, too, in a wrong sort of way.
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