Stuck (2007)

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, November 08

If you'd like to be disgusted, search for the name Chante Mallard. What you'll find is the story of a drug/alcohol intoxicated woman, who hit a man named Gregory Biggs with her car while she was driving home. After the collision she completed her trip, parked in the garage, and proceeded to callously let Biggs bleed-out (officials believe he would have lived if given medical help) while she had sex with her boyfriend and no doubt did whatever else her morally decayed black heart desired.

Since no audience would appreciate simply seeing a man slowly bleed to death while stuck in a car windshield, the makers of this movie took some liberties with the truth. I'm ecstatic they did.

Thomas Bardo (Stephen Rea) is down on his luck. Evicted, jobless, possession-less, he doesn't even have a place to sleep. When police wake him from slumber on a park bench, he's forced to make his way toward a mission.

Meanwhile, Brandi Boski (Mena Suvari miscast because Mallard is an obese black woman) is a soulless, selfish drug-abuser who is getting trashed and partying the night way. (Suvari really manages to pick out character roles that make me despise her) Many other reviewers may view her as "balanced", but since she's a drug-using drunk driver, and is a white girl with corn-rows which never looks good I'm going to go ahead and say that she's incredibly unbalanced and vile.

As if it were a surprise, she's blitzed out of her mind (thanks to X and alcohol), effing with her cell phone, swerving all over, and she blasts Bardo, mangling his legs and lodging him in the windshield. Drunk or not, people with a shred of humanity stop there and help the man. But not this intellectually, morally, and spiritually defective sociopath. Instead, she goes home and has the least appealing non-rape full-frontal nudity, sex scene in cinema history.

Ahh...the resolution. In real life, as I said before, it's boring. This movie, however, provides the resolution that Ted Kennedy sees in his nightmares. Brilliant. I won't ruin it, but the tight directing and believable acting accentuates Bardo's rage against the dying of the light.

Overall, I recommend this for people with mild tempers and no heart conditions.

COMMENTARY

Knowing the case beforehand, I watched the majority with a snarled lip. Such social apathy really brings out my misanthropy. This single instance serves as a harsh critical analysis representative of the insidious cultural decay that has wreaked havoc on the community, family, and morals of our society. It's an overtly sexual, me-first MTV-generation where every child is a precious little snowflake, nobody has respect for family, elders, or authorities, and selfishness all but negates personal accountability. People like Mallard are deserving of a special place in hell, and the fact that there is no doubt at least one person with sympathy for her only reflects society's decay. It's sad that the movie ending isn't the real ending, and that vile scum like Mallard are allowed to live, let alone be given the possibility of parole. With any luck (crossing my fingers), karma will make the rest of her life a horror movie.

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The setup for Stuck seems pretty ridiculous, but it's actually based on a true story. After a night of partying, the young Brandi (Mena Suvari) commits a hit and run on a homeless man (Stephen Rea). Such a tragic mistake, and here's the horrible kicker--the guy is wedged tightly in the windshield of her car! Quite a crazy predicament, and Brandi is of course stricken with panic.

So what does she do? Drives home, drops some more ecstasy and has sex with her boyfriend. Just leaves the poor guy bleeding to death in her garage? Well, I suppose we all deal with stress in different ways.

I can appreciate the dark comedy of this story and realize it might be a statement about the current mindset that seems to be prevalent in our culture. People having a reckless pursuit of personal happiness along with a selfish disregard for responsibility. It also plays other stereotypes out to comical effect.

But the humor eventually goes from being subtle (a cop unaware of the car passing behind him with a bloody passenger on the hood?) to extremely silly (death by a ball point pen?) (ah geez). Oh well.

Overall, this was somewhat entertaining and original. This movie includes profanity, violence, drug use, and nudity. Written and directed by Stuart Gordon.

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So, this is what is life in America? Joking aside, this is a terrific look at the consequences of the "culture of success" permeating the United States. Which is in fact no success at all, but mostly submission to bosses, bureaucracy and money. It is the law of the jungle in "Stuck", but when Stephen Rea, a victim of downsizing, gets stuck in Mena Suvari's windshield he seems still incapable to understand that his society no longer functions, and waits for her to get help. That never comes. I don't see this film as a black comedy but as an indictment, a suspenseful look at the effects of a socially inept landscape in some individuals fighting to maintain their status in the ranks of the low class (they are... stuck!). More insight and this could have been masterful. As it is, it constitutes a very enjoyable action film.

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A relatively low budget but searching and fascinating film. Our 'heroine' is Brandi who is presented as an attractive and caring young woman who works in a nursing home, sensitively taking care of elderly and senile people many of whom can no longer control their bodily functions. Not surprisingly, her somewhat smarmy supervisor tells Brandi that she is 'under consideration' to become the supervisor of other nursing assistants.

Next scene, however, shows her in a rather seedy cub where she meets and passinately kisses a guy who looks like he's a pimp and drug pusher. High on alcohol and drugs, Brandi leaves the club only to cell phone her pimp-looking 'friend', inviting him to come over. Brandi is clearly not attentive to her driving and hits a newly-homeless man who becomes stuck halfway in her shattered windshield.

Rather than stop and call 911, the cops or both--she incredibly drives into her garage with the moaning man still stuck in her windshied. 'You should have watched where you were walking.' She complains to her helpless victim, and goes into her house to call her pimp-looking friend for help.

The rest of the movie you've just got to see. It turns out that cute little Brandi is just about as selfish and self-centered as a human being could possibly be. She allows herself to be seduced by her pimp-drug pusher with the suffering, probably dying, victim only a few feet away. Later she yells at the bloodied man impaled in her windshield, 'Why did you do this to me?' and hits him in the head with a 2 X 4.

This movie is a scathing indictment of the 'ME' generation. Obviously Brandi is an extreme example of a generational model, but sometimes extremes make the point better than averages. Brandi is a good nursing assistant because such an occupation meets her talents and advances her cause. Brandi, at the very same time, is ruthless and completely uncaring about anyone or anything that disrupts the flow of her life.

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