Reception
Stuck received generally favorable reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 72% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 82 reviews. Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 61 out of 100, based on 25 reviews.
Stephen Holden of The New York Times called the film a "grim, expert little thriller." Holden compared the character Tom Bardo and the setting of the film to director Stuart Gordon's 2005 film Edmond (in which Suvari also appeared). Holden wrote "Stuck, while not strictly a horror film, is steeped in gore and carries a seam of mocking gallows humor as relentless as that of Sweeney Todd." Holden said the film "is exceptional because its characters feel like real people plunged into a disorienting situation in which they behave like monsters." Ken Fox of TV Guide gave the film 3 stars out of 4, and called the film "a drum-tight, extremely grisly thriller. And odd as it may sound given the subject matter, it's also surprisingly funny." Fox praised the script by John Strysik, calling it "blackly funny" and said "Rea does quite a bit with a role that keeps him face down and bleeding like a stuck pig for most of the movie, but this is definitely Suvari's show."
Robert Wilonsky of the The Village Voice said "Stuck is both darkly comic and disgusting; the name alone reduces the crime to a sick joke." Joe Leydon of Variety said "Stuck is ingeniously nasty and often shockingly funny as it incrementally worsens a very bad situation, then provides a potent payoff..." Leydon called it a "darkly comical farce" and said it could generate a cult following through a "carefully calibrated theatrical rollout, especially if it generates want-to-see buzz in key regions of the blogosphere." Leydon called the script "crafty" and the director Stuart Gordon "establishes a heightened-reality tone of bleak hilarity early on." Leydon said the film "overall has the look and feel of a tawdry B-movie. Whether that's due to budgetary limitations or artistic inspiration, it serves the material well."
J.R. Jones of the Chicago Reader said "As the title of this splatter comedy by writer-director Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator) indicates, 's like a bug stuck to her windshield, and that's about the level of humanity and insight one can expect here."
The film appeared on some critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club named it the 7th best film of 2008, and Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club named it the 10th best film of 2008.
In The New American Crime Film, scholar Matthew Sorrento describes the film as using "widespread media fodder to create a tale of isolated torment that is, like Edmond, minimalistic and absurdist moves beneath moral judgment to depict the humanity of those caught in tough spots."
Read more about this topic: Stuck (2007 Film)
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