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Cult director Stuart Gordon strikes again with this
fiendishly funny, fact-based contemporary parable about two people whose lives
collide, thanks to a bizarre and tragic twist of fate.
Story
It’s already a bad day for Tom (Stephen Rea), an unemployed, middle-aged
business executive who’s about to enter the ranks of the homeless--but things
are only going to get worse when the sun goes down. Brandi (Mena Suvari), a
young nurse with a penchant for partying, is driving home after celebrating an
expected promotion when Tom crosses the street at exactly the wrong moment.
Brandi hits Tom then rushes home in abject panic--all the while, incidentally,
Tom’s body is stuck in her windshield, and he’s still alive. While Brandi
frantically dithers and deliberates how to extricate herself from this situation
without consequences, Tom is trying to physically extricate his broken body from
Brandi’s windshield. What begins as a simple, if unfortunate, case of
hit-and-run becomes a battle of wills between Tom and Brandi--one that crackles
with intensity and irony.
Acting
Both Suvari and Rea give tremendous performances. Rea's downtrodden dignity is
enormously empathetic. His attempts to save himself--exemplifying his renewed
will to live--are agonizing to watch but also rousing in their own way, as this
underdog fights against some pretty steep (and bloody) odds. Interestingly
enough, it’s also easy to empathize with Brandi’s predicament--for a time.
Hitting Tom was an accident, but when she goes into self-preservation mode
Brandi’s actions become more and more horrific, with the consequences growing
exponentially. Suvari (also an associate producer) hasn’t had a role this good
since American Beauty, and she makes the most of it. There’s also a nice turn by
Russell Hornsby as Brandi’s drug-dealing, two-timing boyfriend Rashid, who gets
drawn into her scheme--much to his regret.
Direction
Stuart Gordon, whose H.P. Lovecraft adaptation Re-Animator remains one of the
premier cult films of the 1980s, has lost none of his savage wit or his taste
for dark humor. That this film is inspired by an actual incident only enhances
its impact and its stinging irony. Truth is not only stranger than fiction, it’s
often stronger. Beyond the violence (sometimes extreme) and satire (sometimes
overt) are some subtle yet potent observations about human nature--about not
taking responsibility for one’s actions, about not getting involved, about
covering up one’s mistakes. Stuck is not a preachy film, but it’s frequently a
penetrating one (no pun intended).
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