Stay Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)October 19th, 2005
STAY
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2005 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
STAY, as directed by Marc Forster (FINDING NEVERLAND) and written by David Benioff (TROY), does a fine job of setting the mood. The seemingly complex but apparently thin story bristles with a broody mysteriousness, tinged with a slightly creepy foreboding. If you've seen the trailers, which give way too much away, you probably already think you know what the story is really all about. I won't reveal the movie's secrets, even if its own promotional ads are dying to.
In the opening nighttime scene, Henry Letham (Ryan Gosling) stumbles away from a burning car on a bridge. Not too long after that, Henry, a college junior, goes to see his therapist, but finds Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) there instead, since his shrink has sent him a substitute. Henry announces, almost matter-of-factly, that he intends to kill himself on Saturday night at midnight.
With a patient about to commit suicide, Sam becomes very troubled himself, so he spills the beans about what he has heard to Lila Culpepper (Naomi Watts), his gorgeous girlfriend. Not only is Sam destroying doctor-patience privilege, it probably isn't too wise to tell Lila since she is a troubled artist who refuses to take her meds and has tried to kill herself before. She has some pretty dramatic scars on her arms to prove it.
Some episodes, especially the one set in an office building full of identical twins and triplets in matching clothes who march together like robots, provide viewers opportunities to muse later with their fellow viewers about the meaning. There are also several GROUNDHOG DAY moments. But, in a movie in which characters keep saying such things as, "The world is an illusion," and "I don't know what's real any more," the movie's mysteries appear pretty obvious.
Mood is not enough to sustain a film. It needs more. STAY attempts to justify the entire price of admission with its ending twist. Basically the movie has two realities -- that as presented during the story and that as offered in the last few minutes. But buying a ticket for a couple of minutes of solid satisfaction is probably too much of a luxury for most people.
STAY runs 1:39. It is rated R for "language and some disturbing images" and would be acceptable for teenagers.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, October 21, 2005. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
Email: [email protected]
***********************************************************************
Want free reviews and weekly movie and video recommendations via Email?
Just send me a letter with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
