INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY

So reads the opening title for Stuck, a 2007 true crime thriller from cult director Stuart Gordon now receiving a home video release via distributor Image Entertainment. I sometimes cringe when I see that clichéd phrase (or its sister phrase BASED ON REAL EVENTS) at the start of films. Sometimes this expression denotes a cheap made-for-television style fluff piece or an awful low budget horror runaround.

Luckily, Stuck falls into neither category. Instead, it's a fairly well-acted and darkly humorous take on a rather scandalous news story a few years back involving a young woman who hit a vagrant and kept driving, with the man still lodged in her windshield. One has to imagine that Gordon, along with fellow screenwriter John Strysik, have taken considerable liberties in their telling of this story. The plight of the homeless man is pathetic to the point of absurdity, and his ordeal lasts longer than one imagines a human could endure. Still, it's a scenario that's full of suspense as depicted here, and the sad reactions of the perpetrator to the victim's pain provides for some effective dark comedy.

In Stuck, the victim is named Thomas Bardo, and he's played quite well by The Crying Game's Stephen Rhea. Bardo is having an absurdly awful string of bad luck. He's been kicked out of his squalid apartment, given the bureaucratic runaround at an employment agency, and told he can't crash on a park bench for the night by the cops. Pushing his few remaining possessions in a shopping cart, he's struck by a car driven by Brandi Boski (Mena Suvari from the American Pie series). Boski is high on drugs after a night out celebrating her potential promotion at work with her drug dealing boyfriend. Bardo crashes through her windshield, his body broken. Boski doesn't seem to know what to do and drives home, hiding her battered car with the bleeding and battered Bardo still stuck in her windshield in her garage.

What follows is an escalating game of survival for Bardo and despair for Boski as she schemes what to do with Bardo and her car while hiding the accident from her neighbors and friends. Boski's callousness is all the more shocking considering her career as a hospice nurse. At one point, as Bardo is pleading for help, she has the gall to ask him "Why are you doing this to me?" Several people discover Bardo's body, but for various reasons either cannot or will not report his predicament to the authorities - which is a source of some of the film's most successful dark comedy.

For the most part, Stuck works. Fans of director Gordon will find his signature style all over the movie. Bardo's predicament is gory and painful to watch, for instance, but the macabre humor is also present in spades. What doesn't come off so well is some unnecessary slapstick between Boski and her boyfriend (Russell Hornsby) as they debate how to take care of the situation in the second half of the film. Perhaps the most egregious scene occurs when Boski discovers her boyfriend cheating with another woman and assaults her. The tone shift with physical humor of this sort doesn't gel well with the dark overtones of the rest of the film (and watching Brandi bash her boyfriend's naked lover with a frying pan seemed largely unnecessary to the film's plot as a whole).

But, overall, Stuck is certainly worth a look and comes recommended - just keep in mind that this is a bloody movie and occasionally it's painful to watch Bardo struggle with his multiple injuries.

The DVD

Video:

Image Entertainment presents Stuck in its original 1.78:1 theatrical aspect ratio. The feature is anamorphic. The image has good details. Colors might be a tad muted, but overall, Stuck looks to have a solid presentation.

Sound:

Two English language audio options are available here: Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 and Dolby Digital Surround 2.0. The former appears to be the default setting and the one I listened to. It's rendered quite well - with dialogue coming off strongly - and the soundtrack, favoring rap music by DJ Honda, is well-mixed and never dominates scenes.

Optional subtitle options are available in English and Spanish.

Extras:

Trailers for Y.P.F. and The Night of the White Pants precede the main menu. There isn't a link to these trailers in the menu system itself; however, a Trailer option provides access to the trailer for Stuck.

And that's it in the extras department on this disc, which is a shame. Stuck is an interesting little film and certainly warranted a commentary track or behind the scenes featurette of some kind.

Final Thoughts:

Stuck is a well-acted thriller with some darkly comedic and bloodily horrific scenes. The two genres are merged fairly well by director and co-writer Stuart Gordon, although some of the humor is a bit over-the-top in the second half. Definitely recommended - though viewers without the stomach for horror film blood may want to pass.

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