STUCK (2007), dir. Stuart Gordon

STUCK (2007), dir. Stuart Gordon

Stuck was inspired by a real-life incident in which a Ft. Worth, Texas woman struck a man with her car, and afraid of going to the police, left him in her windshield for several days.

Director Stuart Gordon and screenwriter John Strysik kept the basic premise, but turned the victim into an unfortunate soul recently fallen into homelessness. In doing so, the filmmakers elevate Stuck from suspense thriller into a commentary about society’s lack of empathy, as the film shows a multitude of characters continuously failing the main protagonist, even after their actions cause him life-threatening harm.

Stephen Rea plays Tom, a former project manager who lost his job and, at the start of the movie, has been evicted from his home. Brushed off by the State Employment Office, kicked out of a city park, he is reduced to pushing a shopping cart.

Then he runs into Brandi (Mena Suvari), or should we say, Brandi runs into him, with a car she has been driving while under the influence of ecstasy. Tom goes flying through her windshield, where his bloody, sliced-up body gets stuck. Brandi, hysterical at first, doesn’t stop driving until she reaches a hospital, and even then, decides to drive home instead. She is up for a promotion at her job, and fearful police will discover her drug use, makes the panicky decision to hide the damaged car and Tom in her garage.

At a loss for what to do, she confides in her drug-dealer boyfriend (Russell Hornsby), who unaware Tom is alive and embedded in her windshield, convinces her not to call the cops. By morning, Brandi is waiting for Tom to die from his injuries. He, however, has enough awareness to know help isn’t on the way, and starts doing whatever he can to save his own life.

Stuck works because up until a point, both characters are reacting to a terrible situation in ways the viewer can understand, even if they cannot be condoned. The movie seems to argue Brandi should face up to what she has done, if the alternative is Tom will die. Yet the viewer can also see the situation from her point of view: yes, she made a mistake driving under the influence, but what if that one indiscretion costs her promotion, maybe even her job? Should she sacrifice her life to save someone who, as far as she knows, is just some homeless man?

Brandi may choose self-preservation over taking responsibility for her actions, but the film is full of characters showing a tin ear to the troubles of others. There’s Tom’s landlord, the police, and alarmingly, the very bureaucracy which is supposed to serve as his safety net. But Brandi’s boyfriend also provides what looks like support and protection, when all he really wants is to satisfy his own selfish urges.

If Stuck provides food for thought, it still falls short of perfect, mainly because the filmmakers aim for Hitchcockian suspense, while Gordon’s sensibilities seem more along the lines of his gory cult classic Re-Animator (1985). As Tom and Brandi wage a battle of wills to see whether he gets out of the garage alive, the film gradually lapses into scenes of B-movie nuttiness: Brandi beating up a gratuitously-naked woman; a wince-inducing tug-of-war between a rambunctious Pomeranian and Tom’s… well, maybe it’s best not to say.

Luckily for audiences, Gordon and Strysik have made the players and their scenario clear by that point. The movie also benefits from good performances from its leads, including Suvari, whose eyes and face had heretofore not been considered her two chief attributes. Here she does solid work as an ordinary woman trapped in a state of denial. Yes, she flashes some skin for the camera, but that isn’t likely to be what her character is remembered for.

As for the usually reliable Rea, seemingly born with sad eyes and a hangdog face, his humanity shines through, even after his visage is half-covered in latex blood and fake cuts. Meanwhile, his facial expressions, or lack thereof, totally sell Stuck’s most harrowing sequence: Nothing to do with grievous bodily harm, just walking past homeless people camped out on a sidewalk, and not knowing if he may be joining them.

Overall rating: *** (out of ****)