Tonight I saw Stay, a mystery thriller starring Ewan McGregor, Ryan Gosling, and Naomi Watts.  Disappointingly, the film did not feature an army of female Jedi all vying for the chance to go on a boat ride with Ryan across a duck pond, all the while being chased by a giant gorilla with light saber with a horde of creepy little dead girls as backup.  I guess that would be asking too much.  Those naughty filmmakers know what we’re expecting when we see those three actors starring together.  They’re so manipulative.  For shame!

Still, Stay was a mesmerizing film.  I had no idea where it was going.  I just knew that the destination wouldn’t be a pleasant one.  I love trying to second guess a film and figure it out before everyone else.  I never do, though, because I suck at it.  I guess I got that from my mom.  She didn’t know that the ship was going to sink in Titanic until the thing started going under.  I guess she thought the movie was about the other Titanic, the one that didn’t sink, went on to marry a towboat, and lived a long happy life sailing the ocean blue.

Anyway, Stay will leave you physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted.  It runs the whole gamut.  It’s heartbreaking, heartwarming, and disturbing all at once.  It’s also a repeater.  You’d have to see it at least three times to catch everything, and even then you’ll find out there was something you missed months later from reading about it on some message board.

It’s a thinking person’s movie.  And when I say that, I don’t mean that it’s some pretentious art house film.  I hate those conceited art house films that don’t make any sense and then blame then blame the viewers for not understanding them.  Stay is still a mainstream Hollywood picture, and with that it follows the unwritten rule that it actually must make sense.

I won’t give anything away here, so I’ll just give you the official promotional rant:

“In this mind-bending psychological thriller, college student Henry Lethem (Ryan Gosling) plans to kill himself in three days, unless psychologist Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) can save him. But after his first encounter with the disturbed young man, Sam finds he's losing his own grip on reality, as he, too, is thrust into a nightmarish place between life and death. With the help of his girlfriend (Naomi Watts), Sam races to unlock the dark secrets of Henry's tortured psyche in this suspenseful chiller that will keep you guessing right up to the shocking ending!”

I highly recommend this movie.  I can’t believe it didn’t make a bigger splash at the box office.