Stuck tells the disturbing tale of two people who both become victims of extreme circumstance. A young woman (Mena Suvari) with a job at a nursing home takes various substances before accidentally committing a hit-and-run. The victim (Stephen Rea) is a homeless man who was on his way to a homeless shelter when he was struck. Fortunately, the victim survives. Unfortunately, he is stuck halfway inside of her windshield, and the situation only grows worse from there.
The plot outline has the makings of a pitch black comedy, and in truth it is. The situation gets so absurd and so gruesome that it's difficult not to chuckle. In truth, however, I found this film to easily be one of the scariest films of the decade. The situations of both of the characters is simply atrocious, and the film paints a rather raw and confronting vision of horror from the perspective of both characters. I did not really know who to feel more sorry for. Much like the 2005 picture Hard Candy, Stuck does not let us know exactly who the bad guy of this story is and never really clues us in until the last act. Simple reality tells us that neither of the characters in Stuck are bad people and that they are both simply victims of bad luck. However, it is how they react to the situation that tells us the most about their integrity and about their values and humanity. It is also how fast and how efficiently they can pull themselves out of their horrible situation that dictates the measure of a man. This film doesn't avoid these themes, and that is personally what made the film so horrifying to me. We do not know as much as we'd like to know about these characters and therefore we are shocked by their moments of inhumanity and pleased with their effort to change the situation. In addition to this, the story of this film is just so bizarre and out-of-the-ordinary that it is difficult to believe that it has happened. Sadly, it did happen in 2001 when a woman hit a homeless man with her car and he ended up stuck in her windshield. She left him there in her garage and didn't attempt to get him any sort of medical attention. That case did not have a happy ending as life usually doesn't. Stuck isn't about the horrors of life and crime. It is more about complex human nature and how warped the minds of ordinary people can become when faced with the possibility of manslaughter. It is also a film that tests the limits an audience will go to forgive a character for their extreme actions. Stuart Gordon makes special sure to go all the way when it comes to raw emotion so that we are reminded that there is a true reality to these characters. I think that, because of all this and because the film refuses to take the easy way out throughout, this is easily one of the scariest films I have seen in a while.
As for the actors, Mena Suvari and Stephen Rea are at the top of their game here. This is really nothing like any of the roles that they've ever played and it is easy to get skeptical of their abilities before viewing, but somehow they manage to pull it off. I am more used to seeing Rea playing much more darker and more evil characters who are also uniquely tragic, but here he is completely sympathetic. Mena Suvari, despite her repulsive role as a junkie in the shockfest drug film Spun, her tomboy role in the Day of the Dead remake, and her near legendary role in American Beauty, has always had more of a tendency to play lighter and less complicated characters who are often underdeveloped. This is completely the opposite of all that. Both characters are menacing and both of them have some strong emotional grounding to them thanks to the early scenes. The camera-work in this film only adds to the off-the-wall nature of the characters. There are very few master-shots throughout this picture, and I liked that for a few reasons. For starters it gave the audience less of a distanced perspective on this situation and showed the general inhumanity of the situation for what it really is. Just the early scenes alone have such a fly-on-the-wall feel to them. It's really very Hitchcock-like. The best part about the film, however, are the moments of sly circumstantial humor that makes even the quiet moments of the film have heart-stopping power.
This is a very shocking, very gory, and very scary film, and the fact that it is based on a true story really does add to it. What if this were an entirely original story? Would you believe that human beings could really be this cruel? Even if you had experienced the best and worst aspects of humanity, could you believe that the characters could do such vile things? I know that we hear about it on the news, but when was the last time you heard a story this bizarre and this absurd? There are times in life when we hear of accidents so over-the-top and so shocking that we gasp and then laugh at how insane it must have been to see or to have been a part of because we need to comfort ourselves about how bad it must have been. It's normal human behavior. This film shows us one such accident, but it doesn't cloud the reality with theatrics. This is a seriously confrontational film, and though you may laugh at parts of the film, you will not forget how rough the film is in it's depiction of pain and panic. This film is the Blood Simple of the 2000s decade.
The plot outline has the makings of a pitch black comedy, and in truth it is. The situation gets so absurd and so gruesome that it's difficult not to chuckle. In truth, however, I found this film to easily be one of the scariest films of the decade. The situations of both of the characters is simply atrocious, and the film paints a rather raw and confronting vision of horror from the perspective of both characters. I did not really know who to feel more sorry for. Much like the 2005 picture Hard Candy, Stuck does not let us know exactly who the bad guy of this story is and never really clues us in until the last act. Simple reality tells us that neither of the characters in Stuck are bad people and that they are both simply victims of bad luck. However, it is how they react to the situation that tells us the most about their integrity and about their values and humanity. It is also how fast and how efficiently they can pull themselves out of their horrible situation that dictates the measure of a man. This film doesn't avoid these themes, and that is personally what made the film so horrifying to me. We do not know as much as we'd like to know about these characters and therefore we are shocked by their moments of inhumanity and pleased with their effort to change the situation. In addition to this, the story of this film is just so bizarre and out-of-the-ordinary that it is difficult to believe that it has happened. Sadly, it did happen in 2001 when a woman hit a homeless man with her car and he ended up stuck in her windshield. She left him there in her garage and didn't attempt to get him any sort of medical attention. That case did not have a happy ending as life usually doesn't. Stuck isn't about the horrors of life and crime. It is more about complex human nature and how warped the minds of ordinary people can become when faced with the possibility of manslaughter. It is also a film that tests the limits an audience will go to forgive a character for their extreme actions. Stuart Gordon makes special sure to go all the way when it comes to raw emotion so that we are reminded that there is a true reality to these characters. I think that, because of all this and because the film refuses to take the easy way out throughout, this is easily one of the scariest films I have seen in a while.
As for the actors, Mena Suvari and Stephen Rea are at the top of their game here. This is really nothing like any of the roles that they've ever played and it is easy to get skeptical of their abilities before viewing, but somehow they manage to pull it off. I am more used to seeing Rea playing much more darker and more evil characters who are also uniquely tragic, but here he is completely sympathetic. Mena Suvari, despite her repulsive role as a junkie in the shockfest drug film Spun, her tomboy role in the Day of the Dead remake, and her near legendary role in American Beauty, has always had more of a tendency to play lighter and less complicated characters who are often underdeveloped. This is completely the opposite of all that. Both characters are menacing and both of them have some strong emotional grounding to them thanks to the early scenes. The camera-work in this film only adds to the off-the-wall nature of the characters. There are very few master-shots throughout this picture, and I liked that for a few reasons. For starters it gave the audience less of a distanced perspective on this situation and showed the general inhumanity of the situation for what it really is. Just the early scenes alone have such a fly-on-the-wall feel to them. It's really very Hitchcock-like. The best part about the film, however, are the moments of sly circumstantial humor that makes even the quiet moments of the film have heart-stopping power.
This is a very shocking, very gory, and very scary film, and the fact that it is based on a true story really does add to it. What if this were an entirely original story? Would you believe that human beings could really be this cruel? Even if you had experienced the best and worst aspects of humanity, could you believe that the characters could do such vile things? I know that we hear about it on the news, but when was the last time you heard a story this bizarre and this absurd? There are times in life when we hear of accidents so over-the-top and so shocking that we gasp and then laugh at how insane it must have been to see or to have been a part of because we need to comfort ourselves about how bad it must have been. It's normal human behavior. This film shows us one such accident, but it doesn't cloud the reality with theatrics. This is a seriously confrontational film, and though you may laugh at parts of the film, you will not forget how rough the film is in it's depiction of pain and panic. This film is the Blood Simple of the 2000s decade.