Stretch

❤️

🧏

Cool

source: Stretch

Patrick Wilson was totally wrong in this role. I spent most of the movie just scratching my head, wondering WHY for so many reasons but the main one being, who believed in the storyline enough to give it the green light? Truly one of those times when you'd like those 90 minutes of your life back!

As anyone who has seen Movie 43 will tell you , it doesn't matter how many big names you put in a film it doesn't make it any good . This is a mess of a film about a debt ridden gambler ( yes another one!)who drives a Limo and get's involved in all sorts of crazy ( not ) shenanigans with the police and the mob. Rammed packed full of well known actors , leading man Patrick Wilson is the only one worth watching here. Chris Pine and ed Helms are bloody annoying and Jessica Alba is only there for her silly smile. Although Stretch is by no means as bad as Movie 43 it is a stinker and deserves to be confined to the bargain DVD bucket.

Though I guess if you cast Miss Alba as the "Ugly Duckling"/Secretary, you obviously have some pull in the hiring of actors department. There are some nice additions to that (Ray Liotta as "himself") and some others (Chris Pine going completely over the top, though he's playing someone different than himself). The action is really good and the dialog is finely tuned. Obviously there are a lot of coincidences happening and a lot of stuff all at once. There are "twists" that you can see coming from the start, but it's still a fun ride, if you forgive the pun. Maybe Joe is channeling something from his own Hollywood experience or something from someone close to him. One thing is for sure: You can feel for the main character and what he's going through ... so much that you want him to succeed even in the strangest odds and with the weirdest decisions (he's making) .... will he prevail?

To be fair to this film it actually does open with some promise; it draws us into the protagonists world and does start to help us to be able to identify with him somewhat. However, once the first few minutes are out of the way it just becomes crazier and crazier and more and more surreal. After establishing Stretch (Patrick Wilson) as a down on his luck pathetic figure the film then flits and bangs around all over the place - complete with lame cameos from David Hasselhoff and Ray Liotta. Their cameos may have actually improved the picture if they'd have been funny and/or if they'd have at least had a trace of self-awareness about them. Aside from the dumb cameos, the first half of the film lacks any real focus and takes an awful long time setting up the plot (which in itself was mind-boggling given how slim the material is with this film). I also couldn't shake this feeling that the picture was also trying way too hard at times to be funny; Chris Pine's performance is very good here and he is funny (for about 5 minutes), but his over-the-top antics actually start to become annoying very quickly. Ed Helms (who was excellent in the Hangover franchise) is given the thankless role as being some kind of dead adviser/conscience character for Stretch - again although I can't fault Helms performance his character annoyed the hell out of me and I never felt that he was necessary to the story. Even when the film does get going it's rather generic plotting was never strong enough to hold my interest. With regards to plotting then one could also address the vague and silly sub plot regarding Stretch and the PinkMinx - this felt like a dumb thing to tag on to the story and although the mystery (I'll use this term lightly) to this sub plot is revealed I never really cared for it to be honest because I never felt that I was given a reason to. Although the film clearly tries to be funny I just found it a little too wacked out, ridiculous and rather stupid, but sadly all of this came at the expense of anything remotely funny or interesting. All in all, it's a roundly poor effort.

This is definitely very much in line with the 21 Jump Street films, if only because they're the last two real comedies I've seen from this year. This one's definitely crazier, reminding me a bit of Filth. Patrick Wilson is having a blast here, allowing to be all kinds of fun and energetic in a way he never really is. Chris Pine is the best in show though, really playing with his character in such tremendously amusing ways. I always loved him in the Star Trek films and he's one to watch out for. Overall, this isn't wildly original but it plays on a scene-to-scene basis and in that respect it works tremendously, even if slight. Definitely fun.

Joe Carnahan certainly is a firestarter. One of the craziest, most courageous risk takers in Hollywood responsible for such crazy wild rides as Smokin' Aces and The A-Team or the thinking man's action film The Grey and mastered the art of blending drama and comedy. In this story of an out of luck limo driver who in desperate need to pay a debt takes on a job with a crazed passenger who attracts the police, FBI and various criminals. From the first shot 'till the last, from every song choice, piece of dialogue it is obvious that this is a heart project for Carnahan. Since Carnahan is such a fun, creative and provocative he fills this film with so many crazy, wacky ideas and characters. Patrick Wilson gives the performance of his lifetime. Seriously. he is never going to be in a better film than this. He has never, never been so amusing, excited and just plain fun in any of his previous films. Chris Pine is the Devil himself. His character is just so unbelievably off-the-wall. It is very pleasant to see him play against type once again. Brooklyn Decker plays the ex-girlfriend who can mess up your whole world. Jessica Alba gives her usual same old but thats the reason she is here and she fits into the puzzle perfectly. Ed Helms as Karl with a K who randomly pops out and shouts an insult at Patrick Wilson's Kevin is just great. Once again Carnahan tells the story through the eyes of the working-class hero. The film is funny, it's got a heart, soul. It is exactly how you write a script. Everything fits together, no ends are left loose and the hero get his happy ending in a way. Stretch indeed owns the space. P.S. The poster is a great reference to Falling Down, which with its premise surely was quite an influence on Carnahan.