Stuck (I) (2007) User Reviews

Stuck: Surprisingly enjoyable

[Platypuschow · 7/10 · 16 February 2019]

Mena "American Pie" Suvari and Stephen Rea star in this remarkable little thriller that manages to deliver despite it's glaring and obvious flaws.

It tells the story of a woman drunk at the wheel looking at her phone who runs into a homeless man with her car. With him embedded into her windshield she proceeds to drive home, locks the car in the garage and mulls over what to do next.

I like the concept, it's handled well and Stephen Rea is fantastic as our protagonist who you really find yourself caring about to levels you rarely see. In fact I haven't cared as much about a character since The Pursuit of Happyness (2006).

Essentially a thriller it has moments of black comedy, mostly due to Russell Hornsby who was really good here.

The films main flaw is that it's essentially following the antagonist, the lead is the bad guy (Or girl in this case) and that comes across odd especially as it's as if you're watching her plight when she's blatantly the antagonist. Watching Rea struggle against the odds is very enjoyable and builds to a decent finale that really underlines the movies quality.

Despite it's flaws this is a great film helped by a solid premise and decent cast.

The Good:

Stephen Rea

Some great ideas

The Bad:

Having the antagonist as the lead is just odd

I still don't like Suvari, no idea why

you can't escape reality

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 21 December 2008]

First, I should say that Stuart Gordon's "Stuck" is definitely one that squeamish people should avoid. Even as a non-squeamish person, some of the scenes made my skin crawl. But the fact that this is based on a true story just adds to the cringe-inducing factor. Mena Suvari plays a character that I interpret as an extension of her character in "American Beauty": in that one, she was a jerk to everyone, and here she refuses to take responsibility for her actions, thereby getting herself into more and more trouble.

Like I said, this is not for the fainthearted. But I recommend it anyway. Of course, in the end - as Stephen Rea's character often hears - you choose.

Really good

[atinder · 7/10 · 11 November 2013]

I seen this movie few times before, I not seen for some time, may re- watch soon again.

I thought the movie was great, I did not find this movie boring at all, it flowed just right.

I loved the scenes of the crash, the loved how they made the slow motion effects as the Car hits the Homeless man, it kinds of made it look believable,

I thought homeless man acting this movie was outstanding and I don't think the female lead was not that good.

At times of the movie it seem that she bored with the movie and sometimes wooded

I liked how the movied ended,

7 out of 10

Ever have one of those days...?

[rooprect · 8 April 2015]

From the director who brought us "Kid Safe", an educational drama that teaches kids what to do in emergency situations, comes "Stuck", a movie about grown-ups doing everything they possibly can do WRONG in an emergency situation.

The frightening thing is that this tale is no joke. At the heart of the story is a true event that happened in Texas in 2001 (the woman's real name is Chante Jawan Mallard). But I strongly advise you NOT to look it up until after you've seen this movie, otherwise the fun of this bizarre, unbelievable movie will be shadowed by the harshness of reality. The Texas case has been retold & dramatized several times, but this is the first time I've seen it done with a funny-ish presentation which effectively diffuses its disturbing nature and makes it "entertaining".

I loved this movie. It's not exactly a thriller, not a comedy, not a straightforward drama but a very psychotic mix of all three. The DVD description tries to make it look like a tense thriller while the trailer makes it look like a comedic romp. Yes, it has elements of both, but the best way to take this movie is as a total surprise, no expectations of any particular genre.

So I won't say much about the plot except that it's got a dash of Stephen King's "Misery", a bit of the Coens' "Fargo" and a squirt of Ira Levin's "Deathtrap". It's basically a story about having the absolute worst day of your life. And I don't mean just getting fired or dumped or a speeding ticket. I'm talking about a day so bad that Job from the bible would buy you a drink.

Normally movies like this stress me out, but this one crosses so far into catastrophe that it becomes surreal, detached, and darkly humorous. So you can shut off your sympathies and just watch the fun. Each actor was excellent, beginning with Stephen Rea (keyboardist for Strange Fruit in the movie "Still Crazy"!) playing the role of a schlep who can't get a decent break if it hit him at 40 mph, literally. Then there's Mena Suvari (American Beauty, Caffeine) who plays an average girl who somehow taps into her inner psycho. Her slow, neurotic descent makes the her character more believable and engaging than the real Mallard ever was. But for my money the show-stealer is Russell Hornsby in one of his earliest big screen roles, playing the part of a tough guy drug dealer who, in reality, can't defend himself against a chopstick. Russell's character is what injects the comedic element into this otherwise nonstop tension piece, adding to the film's unique quirky personality.

In addition to the aforementioned classic films, I would suggest this movie to people who enjoyed "Heathers", "Super" and an obscure diamond called "Don McKay" with Elizabeth Shue as the crazy femme fatale. All of these films are memorable for their genre-stretching approach to murder & mayhem, and "Stuck" fits right in with the best.

A Great Transition for Stuart Gordon

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 7 October 2008]

Mena Suvari plays nurse Brandi Boski who, on the eve of her promotion, strikes a homeless man who gets stuck (hence the title) in her windshield. Not wanting to get fired (or lose her promotion), she decides to hide the man in her garage rather than report him to the local hospital. A problem arises soon thereafter when it is revealed that the man is not actually dead.

When word came my way that a movie was coming out based on the Chante Mallard story, I was pretty pumped. I had written a novella based on the same case back in 2003, so I was not only familiar with it but had something of a personal connection. And then when I heard it was from the legendary Stuart Gordon ("Re-Animator"), I was more than just a little pumped. I was ecstatic. Gordon, back in the director's seat... and soon enough his newest creation was in my hands. It's good to be a horror reviewer.

This was actually a departure for Gordon, being far more a "real" movie (with drama bits) and much less a b-movie. Not much Jeffrey Combs, no Dennis Paoli... and Mena Suvari had been brought in... and the cover of the box is glowing with positive reviews from The New York Times and USA Today. I don't know for certain, but I don't think this is the level of attention he normally musters. You've come a long way from Empire, baby. And as much as I'll always love the Gordon classics, both old and new, it's nice to see him getting the recognition he deserves. There's room for a new giant among Wes Craven and John Carpenter. Maybe Romero will give up his seat.

The film itself is powerful as a drama and the horror elements are downplayed until much later on. We begin by following the homeless man on a regular day trying to find work at the government's assistance bureau. He is less than successful. Suvari, on the other hand, is finally rewarded for putting up with other people's crap (most literally). For the next hour, it is the exposition of these lives that is the focal point. I may never have thought of Stuart Gordon as a dialogue-driven director, but this film really showcases his ability to bring normal characters to life without gimmicks.

By the time you read this, "Stuck" should be available in stores. And you really must give it a chance. Long-time Gordon fans will enjoy it and I think we can safely say this isn't him selling out. (Some Peter Jackson fans likely regret Jackson's move towards the big budget films... but many aspects of "Stuck" hint that no matter how big, Gordon knows his roots.) Those who never heard of Stuart Gordon and are confused by all my ranting and raving will enjoy the film as well, because it's a story that real, with real people and real emotions. A respectable date movie for those who like horror on their dates but may not necessarily want the splatter. Oh, and drink Scotch while you watch it.

It's Your Choice

[ferguson-6 · 6/10 · 8 June 2008]

Greetings again from the darkness. "Re-animator" director Stuart Gordon does very dark comedy, while mixing in a good dose of squeamishness ... offering up a bit of revenge for dessert. Based on the truly unbelievable events in Ft Worth, we are treated to a series of guilty pleasures in a most bizarre event.

Mena Suvari ("American Beauty") finally breaks out of the boring eye candy roles and really gets to drive forward here. Veteran Stephen Rea has the perfect hang-dog, droopy look for a down-on-his-luck, destitute guy just trying to get a break in life.

Suvari's drug dealing boyfriend is played with extra mustard by Russell Hornsby. His over the top delivery often delivers just the chuckles we need during the high stress moments.

Look for a cameo by the director ... he is carrying two bags of groceries at a most opportune time. Congrats to the this team for delivering a much better ending than real life afforded.

Stephen Rea makes this film his own

[movieman_kev · 7/10 · 11 January 2009]

Mena Suvari stars as Brandi, a woman who is involved in a hit & run with a down-on-his-luck man (Stephen Rea), who gets stuck in her windshield and is left to die after she drives home and parks in her garage.in this pitch black comedy (very) loosely based on the sad case of Chante Jawan Mallard, a black druggie who gloated and laughed about the whitey she had hit with her car and was handed a 50 year sentence.

Ignoring the real-life incident and instead choosing to take this film on it's own merits, I found it to be a fairly tense film. The definite highlight of the movie was Rea's acting performance as the ill-fated victim, Suvari was all right as well but her performance struck me a little as being one note. None the less it was well-directed & I enjoyed it (as much as one can 'enjoy' a movie based, albeit loosely on a real tragedy)

Eye Candy: Mena Suvari shows some T&A; Sharlene Royer bares all

My Grade: B

"Why are you doing this to me?"

[Jonny_Numb · 7/10 · 7 May 2009]

In the early festival reviews for "Stuck," many critics drew parallels between the film's themes and the winding down of the Bush II Regime--that, as American citizens, we were all kind of caught under the umbrella of dangerous domestic/foreign policies that had earned near-global scorn, but would ultimately (after getting sufficiently bruised and bloodied) rise above the (largely self-inflicted) damage. Now, in the initial months of the Obama Administration and a life-draining recession, Stuart Gordon's parable of an America that is paradoxically apathetic, hopeful, angry, determined and irresponsible seems an even more potent comment on the times. Thomas Bardo (Stephen Rea) is having one of those Bad Days we can all relate to: he's kicked out of a sleazy downtown hotel with little more than the clothing on his back, is left stranded at an employment center that has somehow lost his application, and is reduced to sleeping on a park bench by nightfall. Enter Brandi (Mena Suvari), a worker at an assisted-living facility who's just been offered a promotion; after an Ecstasy-fueled night of celebration, she accidentally slams into the downtrodden Tom, leaving him lodged in her windshield in a fit of panic. Gordon, most renowned for his H.P. Lovecraft adaptations, has broadened his range in recent years (his acerbic adaptation of David Mamet's "Edmond" a prime example), injecting reality-based dramas with elements both grisly and horrific: while gory, "Stuck" contains moments of wonderfully nuanced dark humor and subtle social commentary; combined with offbeat (yet never less than realistic) performances, "Stuck" is a modest gem of genre film-making.

Stuck in the Middle with Gordon...

[anthonyjlangford · 8/10 · 4 May 2009]

Stuart Gordon made a masterpiece in Re-animator, and carved a career in the eighties out of schlock horror with a heavy foot in satire. In the nineties he managed to lose his way a little but the naughties has seen him experimenting with genres, providing his most interesting work to date. Edmond was a lurch to the left with Mamet's difficult play, but this film returns him to a genre he's more familiar with, yet the tone is firmly planted in reality.

Some reviewers have suggested that Stuck is simply a thriller but I disagree. Certainly there is a grotesque sort of suspense, yet Gordon has managed to provide humanity to his victim, and show us the type of system that puts so many to the street.

It also shows us how a relatively normal reaction of fear and shock can mislead even the most well meaning person into a situation which climbs out of control with devastating consequences. It will also reinforce the fact that we never know how people will react until placed into a difficult situation, ourselves included.

The film never feels forced. You can believe that this actually happened, (based loosely on a true story) though this takes events to the extreme.

Stephen Rea gives a constrained performance, (pun intended) as the proverbial bug. You'll feel his pain and scream for justice.

I hope Stuart Gordon continues taking risks. His best work may be ahead of him.

Dementedly Refreshing

[RobertLThorpe · 7/10 · 12 February 2013]

Stuck is just what the Dr ordered for those sick of the politically correct Hollywood films. Stephen Rea and Mena Suvari are in top form in this over the top delightfully deranged thriller about a woman who hits a bum on the day she heard that she is up for a promotion and instead of doing the right thing she slides down the path of self destruction.

Not to be outdone is Russell Hornsby who is the smooth talking drug dealer who is on top of his game as the big cheese crime lord wanna be. When confronted with actually committing a real crime the laughs come at just the right time played perfectly.

An absolute must see for independent movies. A wild ride.

Where's the truth?

[david-allinson · 1/10 · 22 June 2009]

It is sad that this movie avoids the truth of the events that occurred. It is understandable that writers and producers would take certain liberties with a factual situation but.... I am caused to wonder what the plot might have been if the driver of the vehicle was white rather than black and the victim was black rather than white? The victim's body was dumped in a park; a few months later the black nurse bragged about the event to a person with a conscience who reported the matter to the police. Those of us involved in this situation feel a deep sense of sadness that the life of the homeless victim was so callously ignored by the writers, producers and directors. Again, sad.

Truly enjoyable and disturbing!

[UlfSAndersson · 8/10 · 13 November 2008]

I thought I would give it ten minutes, no expectations whatsoever, but I found myself completely captivated after five minutes and I had an absolutely pure, simple movie experience, like movies are supposed to be. Simple plot, excellent acting, interesting yet plausible characters. Like a "Fargo" light.

I read in a chat room that Mena Suvari's character was not believable, but I strongly disagree. One of the strengths of the movie was, that despite the lead character's horrid actions, she felt very real; a young, unintelligent woman, who completely lacked any understanding of true values, but who still was convincingly portrayed as a person with a warm heart and an appreciated colleague. I do not know how she pulls it off... just brilliant. Also Stephen Rea was great in every scene, but did not have a very challenging part to play. Not a single scene was too long or too short or unnecessary. Just an exquisite little piece! Truly enjoyable and disturbing!

"Stuck" ... who put that "t" in there!?!?!

[thegoodguy-2 · 1/10 · 7 July 2009]

To think that there are people out there that think this film as merit ... it beggars belief!! There soooooo many inconsistencies and conveniences. The characters' personalities change with the wind to accommodate this idiotic plot.

If you like to watch gore that makes you uncomfortable, and you don't mind being treated like half-wit by the movie makers, go ahead and watch this movie. You'll probably enjoy it. You might even come to think it is an important film about the social status of the world today, but please remember, you only think this because you're a half-wit.

If you don't want to be treated like a village idiot, don't spend your time watching this movie. Use that time more effectively by, say, picking the mysteriously coloured fluff from your belly-button. Or perhaps by going to bed earlier.

I have been cheated out of 85 minutes of my life because of the stupid high-rated reviews of this film. Don't let the same thing happen to you.

Stuck

[Bdot2187 · 9 November 2008]

The film stuck is a very interesting thriller to watch. The story is twisted true events situation that happened in 2001. The film started off calm with this woman who works in a old folks home who is feeding people then it takes you to a party scene where she is taking drugs. On the way from the party she is driving home and she hits this man with her car and he goes through the window and thats where he stays. From the beginning of the film to the end of the film I felt like the excitement of the events were getting hire and hire, like the writers kept raising the stakes. A film should go up and down with the stakes and events, but I just felt us going up. The scenes were great and the action was nice but its as if some was turning up volume, It'll hurt your ears on the highest level. The best thing about watching this film was thinking the whole time it was a true story that happened to this woman where she hit someone and panics so much that she didn't help that person. Only some of the true story was in the film which was great but the rest of the story was OK. The film was exciting but the ending was a little shaky.

Strange but true

[billcr12 · 7/10 · 23 March 2012]

Tom(Stephen Rea) has lost his job, been thrown out of his apartment and is minding his business, walking along his merry way, and bam, a woman, Brandi(Mena Suvari), drivers her car into him, and as a result he gets stuck in her windshield. Mena's life was, up to this point, was going great; so awaiting a promotion at work she celebrates with a few drinks which would be a major problem with the law, and so she drives home to hide her car in the garage with Tommy boy sticking from the glass.

The suffering victim does not die from his injuries and when Brandi goes back to check on him, with her boyfriend Rashid, they discover that he has freed himself, so the fun loving couple decide to kill him.

Stuck then turns almost keystone black comedy with the three battling each other with pens, hammers, guns and anything available with which to do each other harm. The film is supposedly based on a true story making it even more entertaining.

Mena did not play the same role she always does...

[sapphiregrl · 7/10 · 25 January 2016]

I saw this movie a long time ago. When i saw it, my first reaction was not at all to Mena Suvari's character. I enjoyed the bloody scenes, they looked real enough. Now that's something to talk about. So I don't know why most of the reviews here talk about how Mena Suvari looks and how she acts. I don't understand all the people who laugh at Mena being cast for the role she played. She was SUPPOSED to be a white girl living in the hood, it was supposed to be stereotypical. Get over the fact that she was playing the hood-rich white girl who dates the typical hood guy; can't play pretty all the time. It was a good movie. If you are reading these reviews, Don't skip this movie because of some superficial reviews/comments. Its a good little movie. And also it's based on true events.

H O L Y C O W

[labng · 7/10 · 7 January 2020]

This movie is is hard core! I was not at all prepared. Impressive.

A really nasty & surprisingly funny dark comedy thriller that proves that Gordon was a really solid filmmaker

[varunv-57277 · 7/10 · 11 October 2021]

Imagine the attempted killing scene of the Tony Shaloub character in Pain & Gain stretched out to a full feature length film & you get Stuck. Based on a heinous true crime incident, this is a surprisingly funny & nasty black comedy thriller that often feels in tone like an exploitation flick as filtered through the lens of the Coen brothers.

We get some extremely unsavory characters who find themselves in exceedingly precarious situations. What makes the film feel fresh & unique is that it starts off as a gruesome thriller & it looks to be headed in that direction until it starts to add some increasingly bizarre & deliciously dark humor that really make the turn of events that much more amusing & shocking to bear witness to. Mena Suvari & Stephen Rea are brilliant in their respective roles especially Suvari who seems to be having a lot of fun in the role of the manipulative & selfish Brandi. Gordon's direction is similarly interesting & his choices are quite memorable. A hip hop song set to the images of an old age home, a really funny & awkward sex scene, a dog biting into an injured man's wounds & the funniest scene that involves a character mentioning of a deer crawling after getting accidentally hit which had me in splits. All of this is then topped off by a crazy climax set entirely inside a claustrophobic garage that perfectly conveys a sense of karmic retribution & effective social commentary about the plight of homeless people & society's apathy towards them.

This & Edmond just prove that Stuart Gordon(RIP) was an extremely versatile director whose films were much more than Lovecraft & Poe adaptations. Wish he had made more such films in his career.

The Turning Point

[loosewigg · 10/10 · 11 October 2007]

When does an ordinary person become monstrous; what is the trigger; when is the fatal turning point? Is fear an acceptable reason for selfishness, brutality and a headlong flight from responsibility?

Gordon deals admirably with this dilemma using a crafty balance of horror and humor in a bloody film about a hit & run driver who becomes inhuman while the victim remains human and humane through relentless pain, shock, & bad luck.

Both Stephen Rea and Mena Suvari offer up fine performances as a middle class guy down on his luck and a hard working and hard playing young woman in a tough and demanding job.

Unusual and worth a watch

[MattyGibbs · 6/10 · 13 May 2013]

Wading through Lovefilm this film stuck out as having an interesting premise although i'd never heard of it. It starts pretty slowly and I was beginning to give up hope but once the 'accident' occurs it really picks up. It's certainly a novel idea and different to most other films out there.

It's hard to categorise the film - it has elements of thriller, horror, comedy and drama and as a result it does feel a little uneven at times. However it does at least hold your interest.

Mena Savuri is excellent as the nurse who accidentally runs over a down an out, that is once you get used to her ridiculous hairstyle. There is adequate back up from the rest of the cast.

Overall it's a decent watch but nothing particularly special. Worth one watch if your at a lose end.

Monumentally Retarded

[elhombremagnifico · 1/10 · 19 October 2008]

I'm quite literally astonished by the IMDb rating of this film. Thankfully seldom is one subjected to such rubbish.

The characters have no charisma. The acting is rubbish. The plot dreadful. None of what was portrayed was believable.

The story is about a girl who works as a Care Assistant and is involved in an accident and what follows is a load of unbelievable tripe with enough plot holes to fly a jumbo jet through it.

From about 10 minutes in to the film I just wanted it to be over. Some reviewers have suggested this was a comedy but I failed to find anything humorous about it.

Dreadful. Truly dreadful. Do yourself a favour and don't waste your time with this stinking pile of doo-doo.

2/10, and that's being generous.

The best B-movie since BOUND

[Art Snob · 9/10 · 10 May 2008]

9/16/2008 Addendum: IMPORTANT! This review applies ONLY to the 94-minute FESTIVAL cut of this film. I see that the DVD version is only 85 minutes ... do NOT buy or rent it based on this review.

* * * *

It's movies like this one that will keep me going to the 'Midnight Madness' program of the Toronto Film Festival forever. I saw it at last year's, and have been looking forward to a repeat viewing ever since. I love it when a low-budget film can soar above the corporate mega-movies on a clever script and a cast that gives it 110%, and this is definitely one of those movies. It gave me everything I could want in such a film – sex, drugs, and violence, with some jet-black humor for dessert. (Note to PG-13ers: AVOID!) It probably won't make a big splash when it's released theatrically, but I'd put money on it achieving cult status after coming out on video.

This is easily the best work that director Stuart Gordon has done since REANIMATOR – I'd go so far as to say that it's his best ever. It's a suspense-horror-comedy full of situations that make you laugh and groan at the same time … one that's also refreshingly NOT top-heavy with f/x. The Midnight Madness program has a firm policy that a film has to grab your attention within the first 15 minutes in order to qualify for inclusion, and this film meets that requirement with room to spare. What's more, it never drags for a minute.

The story is based on the bizarre true life tale of a woman who hit a homeless man with her car and let him slowly bleed to death while stuck in her windshield. Gordon calls this "the way the story should have turned out." The homeless man in this case is played by the reliable Steven Rea, whose sad eyes give him a head start on eliciting sympathy. He's newly homeless, and his fall to the bottom is cleverly punctuated by him repeatedly hearing a timeworn cliché uttered by a succession of unsympathetic characters. The woman is played by American BEAUTY's Mena Survari, and this is her richest role since that one. She finally gets to play a character who actually evolves over the course of a film, instead of just doing 9-5 duty in another eye candy role.

I can't overemphasize how impressive the bang for the buck that Gordon gets with this film is. He also makes an amusing Hitchcock-style cameo (one that I'll bet Hitch himself wouldn't have minded making). There was genuinely enthusiastic applause at the screening I went to when the movie ended and the cast (except for Rea) came on for a lively Q & A. If movies lately seem a bit too tame for you, this is very likely just what the doctor ordered.

White Washed from the Headlines

[lolakinks · 7/10 · 19 January 2019]

For those who don't know, this movie is based on a real life account about a black woman who had an "accident" with a pedestrian. This is a credible movie with a great cast and storyline; but just another example how Hollywood likes to whitewash African American lives.

What a pretentious piece of....

[gittes98 · 3/10 · 31 May 2009]

Wow, I can't believe so many people found this movie to be some sort of comment on society or something else equally pretentious. This movie is a mess. First it starts out a bit like Crash with diverging story lines, then it's a drama, then about an hour in it's played for black humor, and finally it becomes a horror movie with a preposterous climax straight out of Fatal Attraction. Mira Sovari's character is at first presented as a bright, noble young woman, good at her job but soon becomes a shallow, selfish, heartless bitch. Did anyone else want to punch her when she kept insisting 'it's not my fault?" Of course it's your fault, you stupid cow. You're the one driving while high, you're the one not paying attention to the road. Suvari, who showed such promise in American Beauty, and co-produced here, doesn't really have the acting range to bring this character off. (BTW- what's with the hair?) Stephen Rea is adequate, his appearance and name give the movie some gravitas but the supporting cast are either stereotypes or wasted (in more ways than one.) Of course, one can read whatever they want into this movie, as they can with any movie. This one may appeal to some on the festival circuit but for others it's a very unpleasant experience that wears out its premise and welcome long before its brief 85 minute running time. There's nothing wrong with challenging movies or even ones as nasty and mean spirited as this one, but when pretension and cruelty take the place of plausible story telling and inappropriate humor, it borders on offensiveness.

Mena has a bad (hair) day, and enjoys the aid of silly plot-devices for a while...

[fedor8 · 24 August 2009]

The movie starts off with some typically awful rap music, played over the apathetic, sleepy faces in a retirement home. How very Guy Ritchie.

Mena Suvari, sporting the worst hairstyle of all times, wipes the rather crap-stained butt of an old man in a nursing home, changes the brown-smeared sheets without a smidgen of a moan or a complaint, and then even proceeds to defend the old man in front of her uptight boss. This way the makers of STUCK have established to the viewer that Mena is a "good guy". Right? Wrong. Soon the characterization takes a sudden and absurd turn when she does a hit-and-run, or a hit-and-whine in her case, having shown us before-hand that she is not only an illegal-pill popper, a drug-dealer's free hooker, and a wearer of very bad hair, but also an egotistical, heartless sociopath. So how does that fit in with her tender-loving care of the aged at the nursing home? But I guess when you become a Hollywood script-writer, the brain is the first thing you throw away in the garbage bin, right before you throw away your first used needle.

The premise is original, I'll give them that, but what follows after the accident is a plethora of cheap and predictable plot-devices that were devised to manipulate the viewer into screaming at the screen with passion and unbridled fury. Quite to the contrary, however: my reactions to the movie's "exciting" twists had more to do with mumbling "oh come on" every five minutes than having my pulse raised.

A Latino kid sees the injured Rhea through the garage window, and yet it's obvious from the get-go that he won't (be able to) help. So what brilliant excuse/explanation did the brainless writer concoct as to why the kid wouldn't ultimately help Rhea? Well, you see, his father is an illegal alien and doesn't want to have anything to do with the police. (What about an anonymous call then?) Not only does this serve as a dumb plot-twist that further stretches the movie's simplistic plot, but it also gives the Oscar-hungry, left-wing Hollywood writer an opportunity for some "critical social commentary" regarding illegal aliens. The message: if we gave papers and documents to all illegal inhabitants of the U.S. then people like Rhea would have much better survival chances when they're STUCK in garages.

More left-wing nonsense is injected into the film in the form of the pimp/drug-pusher mentioning that George Bush is in power hence there is no law in the country anymore. Typical Tinseltown logic, all rolled up in one supremely idiotic, over-simplistic political statement. How moronic to use a DRUG-PUSHER character to espouse one's heart-felt political views.

It's hard for me to understand why someone would include "comedy" in the genre section. There was nothing funny in the movie, except the screenwriter's laughable attempts at exciting plot-twists. Perhaps that idiotic scene in which the tiny Mena beats up her much-larger female rival gives this flick the right to be referred to as a comedy. However, that scene didn't fit into the movie at all. It was a definite low point. (Except the nudity, of course.)

Mena Suvari: the Hitcher, Mike Myers, Foxy Brown, and Freddy Kruger all rolled into one. Laughable.

Naturally, the mobile phone's batteries are low. Naturally, dialing 911 turns out not to be all that it's been cracked out to be. Naturally, just as Rhea finally gets off the ground, at that very moment Mena and Pimp enter the garage. Naturally, Mena isn't in sufficient agony or shock (despite two shattered legs) not to be able to aim a gun at Rhea and try to shoot him. Naturally, Rhea has superhuman strength and his body does not care that it has lost far too much blood for him to go on walking around a DAY after he'd been pummeled by a car. (Why have health care at all? Hospitals? Apparently, the human body regenerates all on its own a mere 24 hours after any major calamity.)

Naturally... this is a Hollywood script, after all.