Bardo's luck has run out. He's thrown out of his apartment, penniless and homeless -- social services are rude and useless and the cops won't let him sleep in the park. Just when things couldn't get worse, he literally crosses paths with Brandy who is high on E. Bardo gets embedded in her windshield after she plows him down and leaves him to bleed out in her garage, while she goes about her life. As far as demented comedies go, this one delivers. Even as the comedy gets good and gory, a very good grounded performance by Stephen Rea keeps this from going over the top and you care enough for the poor bastard that you want him to get free from all that glass. The finale heads a bit too far into Stuart Gordon gross out territory, but that is hardly a criticism as we get a bloody audience friendly end. The running time is wisely brisk as there's not much story here, but we get gallows humor by the bucket full. As typical for a Gordon film, it looks visually behind the times by about 15 years, but he gets a quality performance from Suvari, who carries her scenes very well. Stuart Gordon has had such a bizarre career with highs and lows (really lows), from his classic B grade Re- Animator to barely watchable direct to video junk like Castle Freak, this one he knocked out of the park. After the train wreck that was his previous film Edmond, he shows a command of tone and humor and intelligence that has been missing from his work for some time.

A woman accidentally hits a homeless man with her car, causing him to be lodged into the windshield, and then drives home like that. If it weren't based on true events, it would be hard to believe that any person could be so evil as this woman. And to think that she's a nurse! Poorly acted and directed, this exploitation film is mainly a curiosity piece because it's based on fact. The filmmakers could have tried to make the characters something more than one-dimensional caricatures. There is too much emphasis on gore, as the director tries to milk (bleed?) the situation of a man embedded in a windshield for every bit of gruesome effect.

This is one of those rare occasions where I was waiting for something to appear on TV, didn't know anything about the picture but there was something there to make me stay until the end. And I can only thank myself for doing so!In "Pulp Fiction" there's a segment called "The Bonnie Situation" where Harvey Keitel has a small amount of time to clean up the mess made by Travolta after accidentally shot Marvin in the face. That whole scenario was absolutely insane but funny. What "Stuck" makes is incredibly larger than life, ten times twisted and a little bit funny, but it does also involve a situation with a car and lots of blood. Here, Mena Suvari plays an nurse having the best day of her life until she accidentally hit and run a man (Stephen Rea) who was having the worst day of his life after being evicted from his house. OK, hit and run doesn't sound like a nice description since the guy got stuck on her car window and she drove him home, out of desperation of being seen by someone who might denounce her.Can it get any worse? Yes, it can and it doesn't get better after one bad decision after another made by this woman who simply doesn't help this injured man, who tries in the best possible way (considerally being stuck on a windshield, with a broken leg and losing more and more blood) to get out of there. It gets more dramatic when she calls her boyfriend, a drug dealer, to get rid of her problem. Intense, tense and insane!Fans of the "snowball effect" situation will be highly thrilled with this story. It has plenty of absurd but it looks real, there's a sense of reality,we can imagine this bizarre scenario happening (not so much for the ending which is awesome and a little bit unexpected). We can put ourselves in the character's shoes, specially on Suvari's character (we would act and think better than her, our moral would be nicer than hers).A good study on how acting without thinking can get you in lot of trouble becoming an unforgettable thing in your conscience, "Stuck", just like the situation it presents, it's a point of no return. The main difference is that you wanna get stuck with it through the whole time along with Rea and Suvari and their top notch performances. 10/10

bottom line, don't drink and drive. the lessons to be learned are often fatal and usually result in ruined lives. an automobile can be a deadly weapon that can backfire at the slightest trace of people's aggressiveness, even passive.moral lesson learned, this is a amazing movie and surprisingly not that preachy. it is based on a true news story taken from current headlines, but it takes a lot of dramatic license (hah license) with the truth in order to make for more involving theatrical drama. it presents the story in almost harsh moral light without weighing in too strongly on any of the events. people are people. everyone has a dark side.in my personal opinion(which is usually not popular), 'Stuck' is one of the very best film's of the last decade. excellent acting and story, first rate direction from master craftsman Stuart Gordon, and lots of gory, intense suspense. the only real problem here is possibly that the film is a little too gory and violent. it feels a little exploitive at times but it doesn't necessarily cheapen the film by any means. in fact to use a critical defense that has become cliché, "the violence is used effectively to heighten the dramatic impact". usually i think that statement is a cliché and a cop out, but it holds true here. rather than a accurate, dry telling of news events, the film goes for dramatic originality and story and is more about cinema than being totally realistic. considering the caliber of acting standards in this film, the film sort of feels like a 'Playhouse 90' gone mad with extreme ultra violence.i know it is also a clichéd complaint when people bemoan "oh they should have been nominated for a Oscar", but i'm sorry, i think that applies here. i've always felt that complaint is often valid. the Academy Awards often overlooks the more intense and riveting stuff in favor of more popular fare. Mena Suvari is brilliant here and delivers a performance so powerful and dynamic, that anyone who attempts to overlook her in this film is obviously much too hard to please. this is obviously a performance that blows the roof.as a matter of fact all the performances in this film are outstanding. from the perfect Stephen Rea, down to the bit players. there are especially good performances from the illegal immigrant family who lives next door to Suvari. the family is acted completely in Spanish with subtitles, but that never diminishes the impact of the actors performances. they very effectively convey the confusion and subtle fear the family experiences when forced with a option to react or remain passive and silent to escape deportation. the expression on the mother's face when she bears witness is very moving as is the actor's performances as her husband and son.this film also makes things that are straight forward and simple seem almost profound, like the line of dialogue when Rea turns to confront a rabidly crazed Suvari. "what the F--- is wrong with you?!" he screams in terror as she lunges at him with a hammer. simple. but classic and profoundly effective.even though the end scenes are seemingly filled with justice and moral outrage, they aren't really about moralizing too much. like the poor Innocent girl in the film 'Drag Me To Hell', this film shows that even nice, Innocent people burn in hell for their wrong doing. the Suvari character is not the evil monster she is transformed into, like her hit and run victim, she is simply a average person, neither good or evil, in the wrong place at the wrong time.i'm going to name names here for authentication's sake. my heart goes out to Shawnte Mallard and poor Gregory Biggs. may God bless and care for both. some people disagree about how close this film should have "stuck" to the facts. i'm glad the names were changed to protect the lives of the innocent. God Bless and sleep well little ones. try as hard as you can to never find yourselves "stuck" too deep.