Over-the-top fun from start to finish, Stretch is a jolt of action comedy goodness.
Listen at the podcast providers of your choice.
If you're a fan of hard-nosed R-rated flicks aimed, primarily at men, you're probably familiar with filmmaker Joe Carnahan. He's the fella behind cult favorites like Smokin' Aces, The Grey and 2021's Copshop. While the details vary, you typically know what you're going to get. Some kind of man movie with a stumbly lead with a gruff voice who's thrown into an absurd or violent situation (and sometimes both!). While I've seen most of his filmography there's been one well-reviewed action-comedy that had eluded me, 2014's Stretch. And now that I've seen it...I might argue that this is Carnahan's best movie.
The Setup
Patrick Wilson plays Kevin “Stretch” Brzyzowski, a failed actor turned limo driver who, despite getting sober and quitting gambling, finds himself on the wrong end of bad debt and still reeling from an awful breakup. But Stretch's next ride could be his chance at salvation. There's just one problem, said ride is a hedonistic maniac billionaire who may just as well get Stretch killed as help him.
Stretch is a movie I appreciate for a lot of reasons. Partially because it's one of the low-budget action comedies for adults, done right, that you don't see too often. Partially because it's the most no-frills fun Carnahan has ever had outside of Boss Level. And partially because I didn't realize how stacked this movie is. So let's dig into all of those elements.
A Great "One Crazy Night" Setup
Stretch is a great example of the R-rated "one crazy night" setup where our hero is forced to make some changes or take control to survive the night. Stretch is given a midnight deadline to pay off a gambling debt and to do so he's going to have to schmooze an unpredictable client who's introducing more problems than he's solving. Great idea.
This kind of part is great for Patrick Wilson who is talented and handsome enough to fit the, "failed actor" bit, and also has enough chops and edge to lean into the script's wild swings.
We're also in a slightly elevated take on the hedonistic underbelly and criminal underworld of L.A. where Stretch will pick up a movie star one moment and then have to deal with a giant gangster that works for his boss' rival the next.
Another reason this works is because Stretch is just a guy. So every situation he's in is less of a fight and more him trying to either bullshit his way through a wild moment or outsmart the person in front of him. This is also where Carnahan's offbeat sensibilities and penchant for creating larger than life characters works really well. As soon as Stretch seems to have something figured out, he's undercut by something he doesn't know or another character who pops up to rain on his parade.
A Fun, No Brakes
One of the qualms I have with some of Carnahan's movies is that as lot of his movies try to be too clever. He's got a solid setup with a bunch of wild characters that all feel like they deserve their own movie and then he decides to upend the entire movie's paradigm with a twist or wrinkle that miss more often than they land and change the movie from high-wire fun into a darker affair. It can be done, but I'm not sure Carnahan is the filmmaker to do these.
Part of the reason Stretch works as well as it does is because all of the "twists" aren't twists so much as complications for our overburdened lead character to handle. Just when it seems like his night with the billionaire is done, he's asked to do him a favor and also has to deal with an angry boss and a leftover item from his previous ride. It's a cascading series of events and f***ups that ramps up the tension or introduces a new challenge for Stretch to handle one after the other. And that relentless pace, is what makes the movie so fun. We're not having deep philosophical moments or wallowing in grief. We're here to introduce and solve problems at a breakneck pace and if possible, do it in a humorous way.
This Movie Is Loaded With Talented
There's been a lot of jokes made about movies like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and how it would be impossible to make that movie with that budget ever again because everyone went on to bigger things. But even Scott Pilgrim was a mainstream released by a major studio.
What makes this movie so wild is how every, single, character is seemingly played by a known actor. The bad-ass alter ego pushing Stretch to take control? An unhinged Ed Helms. Stretch's work contact? That's Jessica Alba. The billionaire acting like a total weirdo? Holy shit that's Chris Pine. Even bit parts are played by solid character actors like Jason Mantzoukas.
What does this mean for the movie? It means no one is phoning it in and everyone seems to be having a great time. Everyone's giving their A-game because this is a lark so let's go all out. Hell the composer for this movie is (let's see here) Holy f*** two-time Academy Award winner Ludwig Göransson (the fella who did the scores for Black Panther and Oppenheimer. This stacking of talent is why movies like this can work so well and punch above their apparent weight class.
The Verdict: Silly and Fun as Hell
Over-the-top fun from start to finish, Stretch is a jolt of action comedy goodness. 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment