Review of Stretch (2014) by David J — 31 May 2015

Hyper stylized worlds full of mayhem and chaos set over the course of a day will never go out of style, no matter how many pop up. With every addition, they add something new to the genre. Stretch follows that model with a bizarrely strange world where nothing is as it seems to the naked eye. It is as out there as you can get with a good mix of heart, random laughs and kinetic action, propelling it to one of the most underrated and unseen films all year.

Patrick Wilson plays the titular character as a limo driver who would love to be an actor. But regardless of not fulfilling his dream, he has a girlfriend Candace (Brooklyn Decker) who he is in love with and is about to marry. Things have been going great for him as she was the one who got him off drugs, gambling and alcohol, but all that seems to fall apart when she reveals that she is leaving him. Even worse is that he owes $6,000 to some gangsters and he has till the end of the night to pay up or be killed. Scrambling for any fare that he can get a hold on, he hits a potential jackpot when he lands a customer with a big bankroll Roger Karos (Chris Pine) but he proves to be more than he bargained for. On top of that he has to deal with a rival limousine service that is manned by the mysterious silver haired figure simply called The Jovi (Randy Couture). With time running out, Stretch risks life and limb to get the cash and survive the wild and unpredictable night against the backdrop of a sleazy, grimy Los Angeles night.

There was much to like here but what kept it together was Wilsons endearing and human performance as a regular guy thrust into an insane situation. He showed some great versatility that was willing to do anything and felt really genuine. Wilson is a guy who doesn't get the credit he deserves and has excelled in various roles over the course of his career. He's one of the most underrated actors out there who has great charisma and dramatic chops. Wilson even had a good performance in the ridiculously fun A-Team. He knows how to mesh the humorous qualities as well as the dramatic to make a very unlikely hero stuck in the middle. His sardonic voice overs to the mayhem around him and his genuine charm make for a pleasant character and one that is very easy to root for. Jessica Alba as the dispatcher Charlie showed some great chemistry with Wilson even if her role wasn't as substantial or wild as the rest of the looney cast. She provided some normalcy to his otherwise crazy night.

Pine was perhaps the most random performance I've seen in a while. It comes out of nowhere and doesn't stop, getting more ridiculous as the movie goes on. Pine plays an eccentric billionaire who delves in copious amounts of cocaine, sex and depravity while offering musings on what it means to be alive and in the moment. He is the yin to Wilson's yang that inadvertently pushes him to his extremes and his inner animal. It's hard to not be caught up in his performance and sometimes you forget that it's Pine underneath all that hair, face paint and raspy voice. It's something that needs to be seen to be believed. Ed Helms played a great supporting role as Karl; a friend of Stretch's who appears before him in his own mind since he killed himself. He provides some hilarious observations to his ever growing problems while adding more instability to Stretch mental state. Ray Liotta and David Hasselhoff had some oddly great and comedic cameos as themselves, adding to the overall strangeness of the film.

Director and screenwriter Joe Carnahan created a perfectly mad cap world where anything goes but reins it in enough so it doesn't go off the tracks into illogical absurdity. It starts off slow to aptly build up the characters and problems that would be brought up throughout the film. By slow, I don't mean that it was boring since the narrative in the beginning was definitely needed to lay the ground work. I was engaged from the very beginning and wasn't bored for a moment. Everything that is put fourth before your eyes worked incredibly well from the characters who don't even speak like Jovi and his muscle Boris (Matthew Willig) to a wannabe rapper and a valet named Manny (Jason Mantzoukas). It throws some unpredictable story twists that keep it fresh and lively, with you waiting for the next big thrill which it clearly delivers. He knows how to make you care for the character while throwing so much at you. It bounces back from action to comedy with aplomb and one never feels like it's taking over the other. They both mix incredibly well.

It grabs you outright and makes sure you're paying attention by throwing countless insane moments but does so that it doesn't feel like it's trying too hard. The craziness feels right and they come out at the exact right moments. It's paced extremely well and comes off rather briskly where the 90 minute running time feels like it was time well spent. Carnahan knows how to develop a crazy plot and stretch it out over an entire film. His work on the dumb but fun A-Team showed that there was nothing too illogical or cartoony for the rogue team. Smokin' Aces was also incredibly fun with some great nasty performances but I felt it fell off the mark a little bit in the end. I expected more and I didn't get it. Narc was incredibly powerful and gritty as was The Grey, so from looking behind from his past films you see a widely eclectic style that he knows all too well. Stretch doesn't look like it would work in any form, but Carnahan makes it work effortlessly in his own style.

One could make any number of comparisons to past films of this genre, but I chose a mixture of Run Lola Run and Collateral. The former has a women rushing to get a bunch of cash to save her criminal boyfriend who lost money that was meant for his boss and would resort to robbing a store instead if Lola doesn't get the money her own way or he's dead. The latter has a cab driver inadvertently take the fare of a hit man who forces him to his hits all over Los Angeles. Both are wild and frantic that takes you into an underbelly of crime. I would put some Go in here as well as it shares many qualities. The story was fun and incredibly entertaining with various characters thrown about with a center that tells how a man gets out of his funk. It's an old trope but is very effective when used right. Karos is an unlikely teacher to the downtrodden Stretch, asking him if he is a fire starter, even if he can't be fully trusted. But by the end of the hectic night, Stretch uses his teachings and all that he has gone through to come out a different man and to show Karos that he is in fact a fire starter. The narration by Stretch gives it a much needed noir feel where the Los Angeles night scene makes for a perfect seedy underbelly and feels somewhat like a throwback noir starring Humphrey Bogart.

Stretch is a hidden gem that unfortunately didn't get the wide release it was promised but after viewing it, it may be a bit of a hard sell to distributors. It's not for everyone and may turn off people with its hectic, crude style. But now that it's been released, it will accrue a cult like status among those who are lucky enough to hear about it. While that may be a silver lining, the great performances by Wilson and Pine will largely go unnoticed among the populous and a dire casualty in the film industry. But maybe it's a good thing since something this wild is better reserved on the sidelines for people who can handle something out of this world. If someone wants to be genuinely surprised from all fronts, you really can't do any better than Stretch. This is a ride well worth taking. Four punches in the face out of five.