Stretch (2014)

StretchSimilar to its premise, the night is overlong, stretched and exhausting for the viewers no matter how many tactics the makers install to woe the audience, it all nullifies down to zero in the end as there is not a single piece of craft to explore in here; everything is a bang, everything explodes. The mind-numbing action and chase sequences with predictable twists and turns, pretty much gives it away within the first few minutes of the feature. Addition to that, the ridiculous effort to create something funny out of these series of events makes it more disappointing. The writing is patchy and pointless throughout the course of it and neither is gripping enough to hold the audience despite of being merely of around 90 minutes. Joe Carnahan; the screenwriter-director, doesn't even convince the audience for a second look and the primary reason is its lazy pretentious execution skills that focuses on anything but crucial points. Addition to that, the performance too isn't up to the mark which comes as a shock especially coming from Patrick Wilson who is a potential actor. It isn't even shot decently and neither is its camera work something to aspire upon. Stretch is accurately titled that throws off the audience from the first act and never even attempts to seek attention after then.

This movie was set to be given a wide theatrical release, but near the last minute, Universal Pictures cancelled these plans and chose instead to dump it straight to DVD. To date they haven't given an explanation why they changed their minds. Usually when this happens, it's because the movie is bad, but honestly I have seen a lot worse movies given wide theatrical releases. The movie certainly isn't dull, for one thing - it moves from plot turn to plot turn at a fairly fast pace, and there are a lot of wild and wacky things on display, some of which I admit are somewhat amusing. But in the end, I thought that the movie was TOO wacky. It seems that every character is to some degree a goofball, and as a result it was kind of hard to build enough sympathy and interest in anyone, especially the hero. Even in wacky comedies, you need to have someone you can relate to and sympathize with to some degree. Let me say again that this isn't really a bad movie, just one that I think was to a degree executed in a somewhat misguided fashion.

Okay folks, I think we've got a winner here. Strange, different, odd, unpredictable, action-packed, humorous, a bit crude here-and-there, and ultimately charming. I love offbeat stuff that's well-written and ultimately hopeful, and this hidden gem is right up there with the best. A classic "weirdest night of my life" movie that delivers in all respects. I really feel the need to give this movie more than a perfect 10, but since I can't, I'll just have to gush a bit more about how entertaining, deadpan, and satisfying this movie was, with never a dull moment and a solid finish. Also, the bits where "The Hoff" and Ray Liotta lampoon themselves are pretty great. Once again, an obviously relatively low budget movie comes through like few big budget productions ever do. It's downright strange how often the quality and intelligence of a movie are inversely proportional to its financing--I guess when you've got less to work with, you've got to make sure everything counts. Two thumbs up, and then the toes too.

There are so many freaky stuffs here as though they jammed an entire game of Grand Theft Auto or even a compilation of surveillance cameras from an asylum called Hollywood. It's nothing short of glorious. Stretch is unapologetically full of sharp sarcasm, witty quips and a lot of profanities. Once it gets any momentum, Stretch leaves a trail of involuntary gasp reactions, otherwise known as "WTF" remarks, with its broken down mutilated-by-fate limousine.Story follows the titular Stretch (Patrick Wilson), a limo driver with a serious identity crisis and a bit of mental disorder. He's about to embark on an overnight journey worth of Hangover, Collateral and Transporter combined. It's amazing how the usual haunted man from Insidious and The Conjuring delivers so many chuckles, although he is still technically haunted in here.The cast are nice, each character has very different wacky personality, borderline over-the-top. Still, these characters that seem like they escape video game realm are ridiculously fascinating. Some of them don drug dealer or angry cop personas, while others portray themselves as the elites of Hollywood. Most importantly, they appear to be enjoying themselves in this strange escapade.Script is thoroughly and amazingly witty. They exchange banter with insult jab and hefty amount of laughable internal as well as external screams. It's the stuffs you hear behind the closed door of therapy session or rich men orgy. Wilson delivers his inner thought monologues with the despair of broken man and he is sullenly convincing.The pace is fast, but it does need some time to rev the engine. Its crude nature might not be for everyone either, it has little to none restraint, so as they say, viewer discretion is advised. However, these are minor issues and can easily be overlooked since the film is just incredibly fun. Stretch delivers more than enough laughs, partially bitter laughs, in expense of himself and everyone in the film.