Stuck 2007

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: The question is why the time, talent and treasure of such energetic and even gifted artists have been marshaled in such a disgusting and trivial genre exercise and what viewers are supposed to get out of it. Isn't life hard enough? Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: It's a grueling little noirish thriller with slasher-worthy gore. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: As the title of this splatter comedy by writer-director Stuart Gordon indicates, he's like a bug stuck to her windshield, and that's about the level of humanity and insight one can expect here. Read more

Mark Rahner, Seattle Times: Even though it may seem a long haul at just 85 minutes, it pays off by the time things finally start spiraling into hell. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: It's a righteously nasty piece of work, and a rare example of a movie that traffics in B-movie grime without a trace of Grindhouse-style self-consciousness. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: There's no shortage of scenes that you'll watch through your fingers, groaning -- but you'll watch all the same. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Deliciously twisted and divinely ill, Stuck does everything a good horror movie should: It contrasts the insane and the mundane, it reflects the social condition, and it offers jolt after jolt of gory surprise. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Stuart Gordon, the mostly under-the-radar director of Re-Animator, pops back into view with this amusing trifle -- a piece of scuzzy tabloid noir. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: You might hope for fiction to bring insight to senseless cruelty, rather than augment the ignominy of the original crime. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Stuck is genuinely suspenseful and grotesque. It may make you wonder why anyone thought it had to be made, but it is absorbingly macabre. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Gordon's inventions — vivid, gruesome and occasionally quite funny — offer a just-deserts ending and make both characters surprisingly active participants in their fates. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: A taut drama that manages to be thoughtful without forgetting it's a creep-out. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Stuart Gordon's gorily amusing Stuck is essentially a B-movie with a single joke, albeit a pretty good -- if admittedly sick -- one. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Stuck lost me the moment it started going for cheap laughs. Are we really meant to snicker at his suffering and at this awful, awful woman? Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: A quick and nasty social satire that comes with the 'inspired by a true story' avowal, Stuck melds horror and humor as it offers a literally lacerating portrait of humankind at its worst. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Whether it's worth the price of a ticket is a matter of individual taste and whether there's sufficient interest in the premise to excuse the hit-and-miss execution. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Grandiose claims have been made in some quarters for this nasty, economical little film, but it does what it sets out to do pretty well. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: Stuck is a shot at making a cult film that doesn't quite come off, which is too bad because Gordon is an intriguing filmmaker whose work is worth a look. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: Stuck gives a boost to the dramatic elements of the story, while preserving the stern lesson about a society crumbling under the weight of self-interest and moral decay. Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: Gordon has directed drama, such as Mamet's 'Edmond', but also visceral horror movies like 'Re-Animator'. Elements of both are evident in this taut psychological thriller. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The over-the-top tale becomes a tense and unsettling duel. This is not enjoyable entertainment, but it is brutally watchable. Writer/director Stuart Gordon seeks to expose our uncaring, self-absorbed society and also the unflagging will to live. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: Ingeniously nasty and often shockingly funny. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: Stuck is both darkly comic and disgusting; the name alone reduces the crime to a sick joke. Read more