User Reviews (81)

Add a Review

  • rapidcereb9 October 2014
    I was not expecting an overly good movie, but what I got in turn was an rollicking thrill ride. The Movie "Stretch" Takes place over the course of one night, and is about a man whom is a Limo Driver that owes six grand by the end of the night.

    At times this movie reminded be a bit of "eyes wide shut" and "Hanna," with similar colouring and locations to the movie "cosmopolis," but with a much more light hearted and humorous tone. I did not view the credits beforehand, but was surprised with several cameos, and quite a few recognizable faces throughout the movie.

    Some parts are a little mediocre, but as a whole the movie is a fun ride, and offers some good entertainment while contemplating on things like fate and taking action.

    It was beginning to feel like Chris Pine was becoming a bit type cast, but in this movie he effectively breaks those bonds, portraying a wild, unpredictable man with a sense of mystery and insanity.

    At first appearance, it looks like it will be another run of the gun, 'wild night' movie, but instead "Stretch" offers some truly unique aspects, with plenty of creative and funny scenes throughout.

    Definitely a good movie to watch if your looking for some fun entertainment that doesn't take itself too seriously. Probably one of the directors best movies, if not the best. If you like wild adventure movies with comedy and action, then don't miss out on this one!
  • Going into this film i really had no idea what i was expecting, and looking back that's probably the best way to watch this one. It looks great, sounds fantastic & entertains from start to finish ! The cast were all first class & the cameo performances were a great part of the film. The performance of Pine as the crazy billionaire is a particular standout, but each and every actor pretty much nailed their parts. Stretch is one of those films, where you can just switch off for a couple of hours & enjoy the ride (literally !!!)

    This one is a must see !!

    Sausage.
  • It's the story of a limo driver whose life has recently fallen apart, again. The majority of the movie taking place over the course of about 24 hours.

    The story is frenetic for the most part which is its blessing and its curse. They really need to trim the movie down or add more back story for Stretch's adversaries. Only two of the characters are really fleshed out, everyone else is just a prop for that scene's action or punchline. You could remove some scenes with little to no effect on the story at all.

    The cast and the look of the film was great. There still are some really good moments but the story doesn't have a clear idea of what it wants to be.

    Well worth the watch, just don't go in expecting something fantastic.
  • Director Joe Carnahan returns to the big screen after a long stint away, showing he's still got a great sense of gritty action, and dirty storytelling.

    I was really impressed with this film about L.A limousine driver, who after a life of making bad luck and even worse decisions, ends up on the receiving end of Fate after an absolutely insane night of depravity, criminal actions, and violence. All for the better mind you. I didn't know what to expect (and didn't expect much), but man was I ever surprised.

    Patrick Wilson (Fargo) is joined by a whole barrage of famous cameos from around the Hollywood scene. Norman Reedus (The Boondock Saints) as... well himself, Ed Helms (The Hangover) adds his flavor as the ever present critic, and possibly the greatest moment of David Hasselhoff's (The Hoff) acting career. I was laughing the whole way through, and not a single scene detracts from the overall insanity of the events that unfold. If anything they simply snowball and and more flavor to this wild run. It's like watching a plane crash or a car accident; you just can't peel your eyes away from it. Oh and Chris Pine... actually not bad in this movie. He has possibly one of the best entries in a scene that has ever been filmed. Very Hunter S. Thompson but with more hair.

    Anyway, if you have seen "Smoking Aces", or "The A-Team", then you know the director's style, but this is possibly my favorite work of his.

    6/10
  • begob28 December 2014
    Warning: Spoilers
    A ticking clock yarn where a loser-hero is forced to pay his dues and evade over-the-top bad guys.

    This sets up well. The lead actor is good and the pace is just right. But it slips as it goes along, and in the end feels like an '80s movie - maybe Beverly Hills Cop.

    I was hoping for more edge and black humour, more weird. If you're dealing with a financial crook he's not going to be a clown, although his speech at the end caught the right note. When a user like that is in play somebody else leaves the field in a body bag.

    The best scene was at the exchange with the FBI agent where the loser found his balls - maybe a little overplayed. The final conflict, with money flying through the air, was daft and ended with some flat moralising. The romance was played really well early on - good chemistry, but predictable.

    It's a comedy. The biggest laugh was the joke about outrunning black men over a flat surface. Apart from that it was amusing.

    Too safe - maybe Karl with a K should have been the hero.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    I found Stretch on Netflix while searching for a comedy flick. It certainly had the ingredients to be a funny and entertaining movie when I read the description. The movie starts of sort of slow, giving us a couple quick scenes with David Hasslehoff and Ray Liota. I was intrigued by the way both of these actors, especially Liota appeared in this movie. I will admit that Liota was the reason I gave this movie a chance, because in the beginning I was debating to write this movie off and find another one. Luckily, Liota popped in at the perfect time and gave me a glimmer of hope for the movie. Liota is a phenomenal actor, and certainly not hard up for a few bucks and desperate to get any role in a movie he can; so for those reasons I decided to give the movie a chance. I figured that Stretch couldn't be THAT terrible, because I know Liota would not have wasted his time with a terrible movie. So I kept watching, and I was not let down. Without giving out too much of the details for readers that have not seen it yet, Stretch was not what I was expecting, and I'm certain you will feel the same after watching it. The acting was not bad, the script was decent, and the plot was above average. I was happy to see a fairly new movie that did not force unrealistic and ridiculous events just for the sake of pushing the plot forward. This movie had more of a natural flow to it than the majority of movies that have come out in recent years. I was also happy that I wasn't able to predict what was going to happen. Everything about this movie caught me off guard, and for that I am impressed. Although this movie was not "funny" by any means, I still enjoyed it and got good vibes. There was substance behind this movie. There was intelligence behind the script. This movie was truly unlike any movie I have ever seen. I would not even classify it as any genre to be honest. It would even be impossible to compare to any other movie. With that being said, give Stretch a chance. Don't have any expectations and just take it for what it is, and not what you would want or expect it to be.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    The only thing I did not like about Stretch is that the identity of Pink Minx is so predictable. Of course it was going to be Charlie. But that is really the only loose link and other than that Stretch is the kind of crazy, funny ride that never makes you bored.

    Personally, Jessica Alba really surprised me as for once she played a character that did not seem to be as dumb as a rock.

    Stretch is consistently good for what it is, an action comedy. Especially when you compare it with what else passes for "good" in that genre these days. It occupies that Above the Average space by managing to be both smart and funny, just below the Really Good which it, sadly, never managed to reach.
  • I just don't get the mediocre ratings I'm seeing for this one. I thought it was a perfect action-comedy - right up there with 'The (original) Hangover', 'Horrible Bosses' and the like.

    Here's how it hit me..

    Story: Tight, to-the-point, succinct and actually, pretty plausible. Pace: Fast from the first few seconds, then damn-near unrelenting. Stunts, Effects, Makeup & Camera-Work: Top-shelf. Characters: Believable and uncomplicated by too much 'back story'. Acting: Each-n-EVERY actor in this film displayed their awesomeness. Predictability: You NEVER knew what was coming next. LOTS of surprises. Oh - and nice ending, too.

    Viewer discretion: This is definitely a film for grown-ups. LOTS of drug use and some mild nudity.

    My head's still spinning down. What a fun flick. Not familiar with much of the director's work, but this was cool.
  • 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.
  • An amusing movie about a player with a gambling debt, trying to save his bones from snapping. The story is OK, feels original, but the pace changes a lot. For a comedy it's not that funny I think. Halfway the movie the main character is forced to go all-in, and that's where sh!t gets real. Now I'm curious what's next. His ex girlfriend distracts him, just when he needs to stay on target the most. Now this is just lame. It doesn't make anything better, it's just an unwelcome distraction for me, the entertainee. I have little choice but to follow along. The rest I won't tell.

    Acting is on the level, everything looks legit but I just don't feel the guy cracking under the pressure. Either he's got solid rock balls, or he's not THAT good an actor.

    Still I was quite entertained, you probably also will be.
  • 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.
  • There are so many freaky stuffs here as though they jammed an entire game of Grand Theft Auto or even a compilation of surveillance cameras from an asylum called Hollywood. It's nothing short of glorious. Stretch is unapologetically full of sharp sarcasm, witty quips and a lot of profanities. Once it gets any momentum, Stretch leaves a trail of involuntary gasp reactions, otherwise known as "WTF" remarks, with its broken down mutilated-by-fate limousine.

    Story follows the titular Stretch (Patrick Wilson), a limo driver with a serious identity crisis and a bit of mental disorder. He's about to embark on an overnight journey worth of Hangover, Collateral and Transporter combined. It's amazing how the usual haunted man from Insidious and The Conjuring delivers so many chuckles, although he is still technically haunted in here.

    The cast are nice, each character has very different wacky personality, borderline over-the-top. Still, these characters that seem like they escape video game realm are ridiculously fascinating. Some of them don drug dealer or angry cop personas, while others portray themselves as the elites of Hollywood. Most importantly, they appear to be enjoying themselves in this strange escapade.

    Script is thoroughly and amazingly witty. They exchange banter with insult jab and hefty amount of laughable internal as well as external screams. It's the stuffs you hear behind the closed door of therapy session or rich men orgy. Wilson delivers his inner thought monologues with the despair of broken man and he is sullenly convincing.

    The pace is fast, but it does need some time to rev the engine. Its crude nature might not be for everyone either, it has little to none restraint, so as they say, viewer discretion is advised. However, these are minor issues and can easily be overlooked since the film is just incredibly fun. Stretch delivers more than enough laughs, partially bitter laughs, in expense of himself and everyone in the film.
  • johnterfie27 November 2014
    Warning: Spoilers
    Hard luck limo driver Stretch (Patrick Wilson) is struggling to go straight and pay off a debt to his bookie when he picks up a crazed passenger, eccentric playboy millionaire Roger Karos (Chris Pine), whose sought-after ledger implicates some seriously dangerous criminals.

    Welcome, folks, to the second installment of my Thanksgiving weekend quintet of reviews. The quintet had begun with Mercy, based on the Stephen King short story Gramma, and will continue with this film, the meta-remake/sequel to The Town that Dreaded Sundown, Not Safe for Work (directed by Joe Johnston), and Mockingbird (written and directed by Bryan Bertino). We had a solid start to the quintet with Mercy, and it continues gloriously with Stretch, writer/director Joe Carnahan's follow-up to his 2012 hit The Grey.

    As the title character, Patrick Wilson does a great job. Stretch is cynical and sarcastic yet likable and bumbling, with a certain edge. Wilson shows excellent comic strengths in the role. As Stretch's client Roger Karos, Chris Pine (who?s uncredited because...reasons) steals the show. Pine always got a laugh out of me and his banter with Wilson never fails to be witty. Ed Helms plays Karl, a figment of Stretch?s imagination, and Helms was laugh-out-loud hilarious, which shouldn't come across as a shock.

    Surprisingly enough, Brooklyn Decker and Jessica Alba weren't bad in this film. I kid you not, their performances were legitimately decent. Decker's character Candace is Stretch's ex-girlfriend who dumps him after a year-long relationship. Decker provides great eye candy like she does in her other roles, but unlike in those movies, the script for Stretch doesn't suck, and it's because of this that Decker is allowed to actually...well, act, and she's not bad. Alba's character Charlie is a very sweet dispatch agent and you can think of her as Stretch's best buddy of sorts. Alba actually does a good job with the material. It truly shocked me.

    In a way, you can think of this movie as the three-way lovechild of Collateral, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and After Hours. It really does feel like a wacky, neon-lit, balls-to-the- wall, hardcore version of Collateral. Speaking of neon-lit, I have to give props to Yasu Tanida's gorgeous cinematography. Tanida's lighting and camera movements are consistently slick and engagingly glossy.

    Joe Carnahan's superb writing and direction also deserve a lot of praise. I've always liked Carnahan as a filmmaker. The man gave us gems like Narc, Smokin' Aces, The A-Team, and The Grey, and Stretch is quite possibly my second favorite film of his. Like I did in my review of Mercy, I have to ask the people at Universal: Why the heck did you release this straight to video and not in theaters? Carnahan's direction is tight and his writing is unfailingly sharp. I also gotta give props to the energetic musical score by Ludwig Goransson.

    FINAL SCORE: 7/10

    Overall, I had a freaking ball with Stretch. Were there a few issues here and there? Well, yeah. There's no doubting that, but this film was a blast from beginning to end. The main characters were fun, it was very funny, the cinematography is fantastic, the acting was damn good, and it always has a great amount of energy going for it. I highly recommend Stretch. I guarantee you'll be vastly entertained by this motion picture.
  • Prismark1026 February 2016
    Stretch is a dumb dark comedy that wants to emulate Scorcese's After Hours or John Landis's Into the Night. Just like Landis, director Joe Carnahan packs his movie with a few cameos like Ray Liotta and David Hasselhoff.

    Stretch (Patrick Wilson) is a wannabe actor in LA but reduced to driving a limo and heading to be burnt out. Life was good when he had a stunning girlfriend but she left him for some highly paid quarterback. Going back to gambling he has accumulated debts to his bookie which needs to be paid up once the debt is sold to some Mexican gangsters, he is losing high value clients to a rival and he picks up a crazed, drugged out passenger (Chris Pine) who is wanted by the police as he possesses ledgers that implicates some dangerous criminals.

    The film zips along, people speak smart and funny, but it is not really smart or funny. When Pine said he was a fire starter he literally starts a fire in the next scene. The plot is rather stretched. Famous actors pop up here and there even for small roles and Stretch gets chided by a ghostly Ed Helms.

    It is all a little sub Tarantino and the genre of a man having one crazy night is not entirely successful. I can understand why Universal got cold feet and released this on VOD.
  • This movie was set to be given a wide theatrical release, but near the last minute, Universal Pictures cancelled these plans and chose instead to dump it straight to DVD. To date they haven't given an explanation why they changed their minds. Usually when this happens, it's because the movie is bad, but honestly I have seen a lot worse movies given wide theatrical releases. The movie certainly isn't dull, for one thing - it moves from plot turn to plot turn at a fairly fast pace, and there are a lot of wild and wacky things on display, some of which I admit are somewhat amusing. But in the end, I thought that the movie was TOO wacky. It seems that every character is to some degree a goofball, and as a result it was kind of hard to build enough sympathy and interest in anyone, especially the hero. Even in wacky comedies, you need to have someone you can relate to and sympathize with to some degree. Let me say again that this isn't really a bad movie, just one that I think was to a degree executed in a somewhat misguided fashion.
  • Insert stereotype down and out limo driver, a flat out insane billionaire that everybody wants, a collection of unlikable characters that want said billionaire, the limo driver or both and it adds up to a really crazy night. Lots of good laughs, but also gets too slow and too much time spent building up characters you don't like anyway. Take out the useless filler and add more humor and this would have been a 7 or 8 for me, maybe even a 9. The lulls last too long to keep the hilarity going and attempts to introduce action wind up as a distraction really. The movie should have gone for pure comedy rather than trying to be both comedy and action. Well worth giving this movie a watch, it's not one you'll regret sitting through.
  • michaeltrivedi24 January 2019
    I thought the main actor in this movie did not do well. He, or his character, were just boring ordinary people. His face does not fit well with someone trying to make his round in LA and fit the LA-guy lifestyle. He's terrific in many of his other movies, but not this one.

    I found myself easily getting bored, but I had to stay watching until the end. Pine does an excellent job as the LA-guy living that lifestyle. But the situations are all drawn out and no one cares at the end of the day

    Still worth a watch

    6 stars
  • I must have been dreaming when arching the film, but I can swear I saw Chris Pine play the character of the mad Karoso,,,right or not ?
  • refinedsugar6 September 2023
    'Stretch' shares a bit in common with director Joe Carnahan's earlier film 'Smokin Aces'. They both have a reasonably simple plot on the surface that's highlighted by bouts of style, craziness and the tale is carried out by numerous well known faces in the cast.

    Kevin "Stretch" Brzyzowski (Patrick Wilson) is an aspiring actor & limo driver in LA who's life went off the rails when his former girlfriend dumped him. He still owes 6k to a bookie and when the loan is called in to be paid back by midnight his only hope is a rich, crazy new client named Karos (Chris Pine). What he doesn't know is the insane night he's in for ahead.

    The cast makes it work. Wilson makes for an likable guy. Pine fully commits to the nutso client and then you fun cameos from actors (Ray Liotta, David Hasselhoff, Norman Reedus) playing themselves. Jason Mantzoukas pops up (like he always seems to do in comedies) providing a laugh as a parking valet while Ed Helms plays the ghost of a deceased limo driver that lives rent free in Stretch's head allowing for dark humor (and a killer thin mustache).

    There's bits with a dating app and a competing limo company, it's weirdo owner and his tough guy brother. Not everything sticks however. Jessica Alba doesn't have much to do. A portion of the ending is telecast from a mile away, but a lean 90 minute run time helps "Stretch" from outstaying its welcome and keeps the flick healthily in the fun zone.
  • I registered just to review this underrated film. Another reviewer summed this film up so perfectly I have to restate it: the film begins exactly as it should, and continues exactly the way you want it to right to the end. It is the sort of movie that would have been at home in 1985--down on his luck protagonist has an increasingly awful night that turns into a rampage through LA. It is funny without ever being stupid or gross, which probably explains its ranking. In a time when big name stars are putting out such comedic, big screen "gems" as the bizarrely unfunny toilet-humored "A Million Ways to Die in the West," it is a flashback to films that were funny without being dumb.
  • I understand that Stretch was not given a theatrical released and went straight to video. I wonder why? I suspect the reasons were as much, if not more, political than commercial or artistic.

    I have been following Joe Carnahan's films since I came across Narc, his very disturbing tale of corruption in a narcotics department starring Jason Patric and Ray Liotta. (It was made on a shoestring after Ray Liotta was impressed by the script and hearing that Carnahan couldn't raise the funding, paid for it himself and starred in it.) The follow-up, the very, very different Smokin' Aces is, I must admit, not to everyone's taste, though it was to mine: a manic, cartoonish tale told with flamboyance and wit. It improves at the second watching.

    Stretch is more in the vein of Smokin' Aces, with the same convoluted story structure and manic developments. It shouldn't come off, but it does. I have to admit that it takes a while to get into its stride, but stick with it, and you will be rewarded. But as I say, it went straight to DVD so it certainly didn't impress everyone. But if you get the chance to see it, don't pass it up. I think it works because Carnahan has characters play it straight in situations which are beyond ridiculous and that is a harder act to pull off than any number of mindnumbingly stupid gross-out 'comedies'.

    There is in Stretch a certain internal logic which, although it doesn't make a drop of sense in the real world, does make sense in context, and Carnahan is skillful at pulling that off. He also has a nice line in witty dialogue, lines which don't come across as clever-clever. But what the hell, suck it and see. I think most will be pleasantly surprised.
  • Coming into this movie with high hopes of an exciting new action comedy were shattered within the first half hour. Watching Stretch from start to finish was as painful as being dragged behind a bus by a rope to my ankle on a 110 km freeway. Am still finding it hard to believe that all the great actors that appear in this movie agreed to act in such a horrible film.

    The main actor Patrick Wilson was a boring miserable main character who failed to make me or my partner laugh even just once. The stupid try hard funny scenes did nothing but absolutely irritate me to the point I had to turn off the film with 10 minutes to spare before I took the DVD out and snapped the disc in half myself.

    To the people that compare this movie to the hangover and 21 jump street, you all must be so damn retarded, blind and stupid.. Don't EVEN BOTHER WATCHING THIS MOVIE!!!!! If I could give a minus -5 star rating I would... WORST FILM!!!!!
  • Stretch is a story of unlucky person and unlucky gambler who lives in LA, he wanted to be an actor but instead he's limo driver and fate never been on his side, it always has been until he meets Roger Karos (Chris Pine) and his life changes in one day.

    Stretch is so entertaining and every second of it is enjoyable with intense events that will make the viewer happy and satisfied, it's funny, edgy and a wonderful experience, Joe Carnahan knows what he's doing and that's why Stretch is a very great and entertaining movie to watch with great performances from Patrick Wilson, Chris Pine and Ed Helms with a very nice appearances from Norman Reedus as himself, Ray Liotta and David Hasselhoff.

    I won't ruin the movie for anyone who didn't watch the movie but my final words are.. watch Stretch, you won't regret it. It's what all movies should be about, Entertaining.
  • Patrick Wilson leads the fast paced free-for-all film Stretch where a limo driver takes on an outrageous fare to attempt to earn enough money to keep his bookies at bay.

    Known as Stretch, Patrick Wilson's character is not charming nor is he wealthy. Stretch is having a horrible week. Dumped mid-coitus by his girlfriend only to later be pursued by bookies for the full sum of his debts and failing miserably as an actor in Los Angeles. Stretch is wearing thin as he even fails as a limo driver when the competition known as the Jovi steals his fares and an ex-driver who committed suicide comes to him in times of duress.

    The car service company's dispatcher, Charlie played by Jessica Alba, helps Stretch out in his desperate attempt to earn $6000 in 24hours and hooks Stretch up with an eccentric client Roger Karos known to be a megatipper. Little does Stretch know the chaos and mayhem he has in store for himself driving Karos around town for dubious and illicit exploits.

    Joe Carnahan writes and directs the film and utilizes every humorously heinous plight in the book, including ridiculous cameos. The movie Stretch is a fun and entertaining ride. Debaucherous and outrageous events unfold as Wilson's character drives the young playboy around town. Fans of the film Crank and The Hangover will enjoy Stretch as it basically mimics the formula of its predecessors.

    While the exploits endured by Stretch and the character himself is moderately original, thanks in part to the corporeal conscience played by Ed Helms and Patrick Wilson himself, much of the film is stale and haphazard. Having seen the Red Band trailer prior to the film it had the exact same effect as watching the film but in about a hundredth of the time.

    For more full reviews of recent releases, please check out our WEBSITE.
  • boasahr7 March 2015
    i don't know where to start writing my opinion on this movie the fact that the budget of this movie was 5 mill explain universal studio stupidity making this movie the story and the acting was the worse i have seen in years, i have seen thousands of movies in my life i must say this one really was the worse especially the language was used in the movie oh my gosh i hate this every second word in the movie the F word used no surprise the ACTORS who ware playing in this movie lost their touch playing in the big screen or even the small screen like David Hasselhoff he his so bad like 3rd league actor as far as i m concern he is finish after the bay wash was over i give 1 star to this movie because it;s not worth more then that
An error has occured. Please try again.