Stray

I have never bothered to review a movie on IMDb before but I am fuming at the reviews and score given to this movie. So much so that I feel the need to contribute my own review so that people pondering watching this movie can have some real information on it. Lord only knows it's 90mins of my life I cannot get back.

The movie starts okay with an intriguing opening 3mins but then descends into a turgid, embarrassing mess of a movie to such an alarming extent I genuinely thought I had switched channels by mistake. For starters, the overall level of acting is absolutely woeful. Whilst the widower in the opening scenes and the main protagonist can perhaps move on from this movie without terminal damage to their careers, the rest of the screen talent do not get off that easy and I do not expect to see them on that side of the camera again. To say the acting is wooden is an insult to wood.

As for the direction, I've seen better skills showcased at school nativity plays. With the children directing. I'm not really clear on the script and where it was heading but I suspect it started off as a reasonable idea which was much in need of rework but instead it's been thrown onto the screen and implemented in such an amateurish fashion as to kill the idea stone dead.

I would not normally drop such a viscerally negative review (even though it's all true). But for this movie to languish within the otherwise superb IMDb website on a 6+ rating makes a mockery of the whole scoring system. Upon further reading of the other reviews, it blatantly appears that the other 'critic' reviews are either a) bought off by the movie makers b) the actual movie makers or c) quite simply are thinking of another film and are unfortunately confusing this movie with another one. The reviews I've seen are littered with references to Hitchcock and 'film noir' classics but to associate this movie with anything like that is embarrassingly fake. Moreover, to comment that the actress playing the mother was 'refreshing' and the music (I simply do not recall there being any) 'built tension' simply lend themselves to options a, b or c above and nothing else whatsoever.

If this review irritates those involved with the movie, then quite simply you deserve it for accepting the scandalously misleading and false reviews before this one.

To potential viewers, stay away from this movie and beware movies with less than a 100 reviews as it appears quite possible to artificially inflate a movies score regardless of the quality of the movie.

There are only 71 rates on here, so you know there are a lot of fake reviews bumping it up. It has a very low budget feel. The acting wasn't great, but not terrible either. With better directing and production value, it would've hidden many of the actors shortcomings. The story was slow and hard to take seriously. Not the worst I've seen, but I wouldn't recommend it.

I normally don't leave reviews here on IMDB, but after watching this film, I just couldn't not warn others about it. The film drags, and drags and drags.

There are so many loose ends by the end of the movie as to leave the viewers flabbergasted as to WT just happened? Honestly, the plot was somewhat interesting, but leaving so many loose ends just kills it.

Awful. This "movie" earns all of it's one star glory on IMDb's rating scale with 1 being awful.

I watched, as it dragged along, thinking it will get somewhere. Maybe. 3/4 of the way in to the go nowhere script I stayed to figure out if this was a Lifetime movie about a crazy bee otch, like they all are from that network. I assume it is by the commercial breaks interspersed throughout and the awful acting - if that's what you would call it.

I was successful in figuring out the person who reviewed this before me was obviously involved or related to someone in this abortion. The acting left a LOT to be desired. As for the cinematography described by the other viewer as being so good, well I busted out laughing reading the review. (Hint: if you're going to write the review as a favor, next time dummy down all the Oscar worthy dialogue.) The script was laughable. A sophomore in film school could've done better. The reference to Psycho by the other reviewer was another clue they're involved in the making. This isn't even in the same ballpark!

Do yourself a favor...don't waste any time on even pushing the play icon on this drivel. To exercise even that much inertia is more then "Stray" deserves.

At best, this is an ok Lifetime movie that they run once and it never is seen again. I can't figure out if the lead actress is actually bad, or if the script and the micro budget environment didn't allow for the character to blossom. I hated every character in this movie. Or is it the script I hated? I definitely hated the music, super cheesy. Well if there's anything that I can tell you, you're the one that should be afraid! 3 thumbs up!