An edgy, sardonic black comedy, Stuck represents a departure for veteran horror-movie director Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator). Featuring a clever script by John Strysik, the film establishes a darkly hilarious tone with the introduction of the two principal characters: sad-sack Tom (Stephen Rea, The Crying Game), who has just lost his job to downsizing, and Brandi (Mena Suvari), a nursing-home caregiver who spends her free time partying, drinking, and doing drugs. A freakish car accident after one such debauch finds a badly wounded Tom wedged in Brandi's broken windshield, after which she hides the vehicle in her garage and asks her drug-dealing boyfriend (Russell Hornsby) to dispose of what she thinks is a dead body, unaware that the not-quite-expired victim has regained consciousness and is trying to free himself. From there, the story's pace accelerates as unlucky breaks and ironic twists pile up. Suvari delivers a fearless performance as the initially sympathetic ditz whose panic-driven scheming turns her into a bona fide shrew, while Rea, whose hangdog countenance makes him physically well-suited to his role, is brilliant as the poor schmo who's convinced himself that he has nothing more to lose after Brandi runs into him (literally). Mordantly offbeat, Stuck will delight fans of highly-skewed comedies. Recommended. [Note: While the DVD contains no extras, the Blu-ray release features audio commentary (by director Stuart Gordon, writer John Strysik, and costar Mena Suvari), a “Ripped from the Headlines” behind-the-scenes featurette, “The Gory Details” featurette on special effects and makeup, a “Driving Forces” interview with Gordon and Strysik, interviews/footage from the AFI Dallas International Film Festival, and trailers. Bottom line: Blu-ray is the clear winner in both the picture quality and extras categories for this engaging, quirky film.] (E. Hulse)
Stuck
THINKFilm, 85 min., R, DVD: $27.99, Blu-ray: $35.99, Oct. 7 Volume 23, Issue 5
Stuck
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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