Starring Mena Suvari, Stephen Rea. Written by John Strysik. Directed by
Stuart Gordon. (STC) 94 min. Opens July 18 at the Bloor (506 Bloor W).
An acerbic commentary on contemporary stupidity, this Nova Scotia–shot black comedy by underappreciated American director Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, From Beyond) takes its ripped-from-the-headlines premise to a grisly extreme. Based on the unlikely but true tale of a Texan woman who hit a homeless man with her car and let him slowly die while stuck in her windshield, Stuck details a most unfortunate encounter between young nursing-home worker Brandi (Mena Suvari) and Tom (Stephen Rea), a recently downsized schlub who’s just begun to learn about life on the streets when he finds himself impaled on Brandi’s windshield wiper.
That Brandi’s too high to figure out what to do with her unwelcome passenger gives a sliver of plausibility to her decision to ignore Tom’s suffering as best she can. She’s also desperate to protect her chances for a promotion at work. And while the ensuing events may sometimes get too goofy as Brandi grows more frazzled and Tom devises some MacGyver-y solutions to his predicament, Gordon and his actors valiantly contend with the set-up’s obvious limitations and squeeze out all the sick, queasy laughs they can.