Stuck - C - AFI Dallas Film Festival

Rated R, 94 minutes. Trailer.

Its not everyday that you take a leak next to a Best Actor Nominee, but that was the case on Saturday night as Stephen Rea committed the ultimate men's room faux pas by sidling up next to me at the urinal before the screening of his latest film, Stuck. This film is based on the true story of a woman from Arlington, Texas that hit a man with her car, drove home with him sticking out of her windshield, hid him in her windshield in her garage until he died and then dumped him in a park.

Click below for the review and pictures from the screening.

Directed by Stuart Gordon, this film feels like a TV movie of the week. Mena Suvari stars as the nurse that strikes the man, who is played by Rea. The film lays out Rea's character as a down on his luck 'normal guy' that ends up homeless for the first time on the night he is struck. Suvari is shown as a decent person that is self-centered and unable to make the right decision in a difficult situation. The first act with all of this setup is decent, mostly because of Rea's lived-in performance.

The second act lost me, as the director focuses on the protruding bone and other blood and guts of Rea's character as he continues to be stuck in his car. This part of the film feels like a low-rent version of Misery, and drags in places. There is a major hole in the plot when Rea reaches Suvari's cell phone, calls 911 to no avail and then fails to call anyone else. The best parts of the film besides Rea are the scenes with Suvari's on-screen boyfriend, Rashid, played with great comedic effect by Russell Hornsby. His character is engaging and his scenes provide the only levity in the film.

The third act revolves around the disposal of the body and the man's fight for survival. This was just C-level horror film stuff, complete with a ballpoint pen stuffed into an eye (my favorite!).

The Q&A following the film featured Rea and screenwriter John Strysik (a dead ringer for James Lipton). Rea talked about being drawn to the story of his character and his everyday decency, while Strysik discussed the first draft of the script which featured a major subplot (omitted from the film) involving the injured man's wife.