This one is more headache-inducing than mind-blowing.
Stay (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:117
Fresh:32
Rotten:85
Average Rating:4.6/10
Consensus: A muddled brain-teaser, Stay has a solid cast and innovative visuals but little beneath the surface.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language and some disturbing images
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Thriller, Theatrical Release
Theatrical Release:Oct 21, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $3,349,167
Synopsis: In the space between desire and fear, between reality and illusion, between life and death lies a whole other alternate world that is brought to life in the mind-bending thriller STAY. From the... In the space between desire and fear, between reality and illusion, between life and death lies a whole other alternate world that is brought to life in the mind-bending thriller STAY. From the acclaimed director of the award-winning Monster's Ball and Finding Neverland, Marc Forster, comes this moving and mesmerizing double story that plunges beneath the surface of ordinary experience to take a man on a spiraling descent through the mysteries of identity, dreams and the very fabric of existence. STAY appears at face value to be the suspenseful story of dedicated New York psychiatrist Sam Foster (EWAN McGREGOR) and his urgent attempt to stop a secretive and unusual young patient he inherited, Henry Lethem (RYAN GOSLING), from carrying out a planned suicide on the eve of his 21st birthday. But behind the primary tale of STAY lies a far more unsettling and surreal mystery: that of the reality-shattering effect that investigating Henry starts to have on Sam. As Sam is drawn deeper into the web of Henry's life -- and then into the labyrinth of his subconscious -- at first it simply puts stress on Sam's relationship with his artist girlfriend and former patient Lila (NAOMI WATTS). But soon Sam's own tightly-held grip on the rational world begins to melt away. Faced with increasingly surreal encounters and a Manhattan transformed into a wildly shifting dreamscape, Sam can no longer figure out what is true and what is happening only in his head, nor where he begins and Henry ends. So just who is Henry Lethem and why is he fracturing Sam's reality so profoundly? As clues and suspense simultaneously build to the story's climax on the Brooklyn Bridge, both Sam -- and the audience must grapple with thought-provoking questions about perception, awareness, forgiveness and final moments of redemption. For it soon becomes clear that what is happening to Sam and Henry is taking place not in this world but in the twilight state between living and dying . . . a place where no one can stay for long. [More]
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, Ryan Gosling, Kate Burton
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, Ryan Gosling, Kate Burton, Bob Hoskins, Elizabeth Reaser, Janeane Garofalo, B.D. Wong
Director: Marc Forster
Director: Marc Forster
Producer: Bill Carraro, Guymon Casady, Arnon Milchan, Tom Lassally, Eric Kopeloff
Composer: Asche & Spencer
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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Reviews for Stay
Another exercise in alienated chic, Stay plays like an impenetrable collage. The movie's chilly moods and eerie suggestions don't amount to much, and all the weirdness leads to a pip-squeak of a payoff.
The style of Stay is no different than a 15-year-old goth'd out chick about to be sentenced to boot camp on Maury Povich – it's weird for the sake of being weird.
When the movie is over, and we know all that is to be known, it deserves some thought.
Forster keeps us from drifting off with inventive camerawork; in this case, that's like saying a hideous suit has well-stitched lapels.
A gorgeous, textured, meaningful, multimedia shadow play; appreciate it as deeply as you like
It is neither deep nor mind-blowing. But we shouldn't deny the very concrete delectations it offers.
Works best as an intellectual cinematic essay on the veiled subject at hand (and a director-driven art film at that), rather than as a narrative drama.
Part thriller, part mind-bending absurdity, it will definitely leave you scratching your head. But try to stay until the end--it might make up for the rest of it.
After it's over, the nagging feeling will hit you in the parking lot that it really doesn't make any sense.
You could attempt to summarize the plot of 'Stay' -- or could try to catch the morning fog in a butterfly net: Either activity would produce the same results.
People who have never seen a movie using this gimmick may be impressed, but for those who have – or can see it coming – there isn’t very much point.
There are no surprises to get excited about, and Forster's stylistic choices tend to push the film into tedium
A very sad story with great potential, but what’s pulsating through its veins is a double-assed Twilight Zone that somehow manages to tell it from the wrong point of view.
Watts is under used and wasted. More Naomi = More Waffles, no matter how bad the movie might be
The movie demands that its viewers put the fragmented images and information together like an intellectual jigsaw puzzle, but it never gives those viewers a good reason to do so.
... for a film so affectingly steeped in loss, resignation and the ghosts of memory, the revelation... lacks emotional resonance.
...a striking piece of work, one that stays with the viewer long after the end credits have rolled.
Stay is worth seeing for its powerful performances, excellent direction, and beautiful visuals.
Latest News for Stay
June 28, 2007:
Ryan Gosling Signs On to Peter Jackson's "Lovely Bones"
The 27-year-old actor will be playing the husband to 36-year-old Rachel Weisz. They'll be playing the parents of a (dead) 14-year-old girl in the Peter Jackson pic. More...
June 20, 2007:
The Next "Bond" Director Has Been Chosen
And it's certainly nobody you'd expect! More...
April 17, 2006:
Casino Royale Enlists a "Vice" Villain
IGN FilmForce notes a 007-related Variety report, and it's news of the casting ... variety: Up & coming actor Isaach de Bankole, seen recently in flicks like Stay and The... More...
March 28, 2006:
DVD Tuesday: Planet of the Ape
Movie geeks love Tuesdays, and here's why: It's DVD Day! With each new Tuesday comes the promise of varying DVD goodness, so I thought it might be fun to do a reminder-piece... More...
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