The Stray

The Stray is one of those movies we are tempted to turn off in the first few minutes. The story gets off to a murky start and the direction is uninspired. Yet, as the pace builds, so does the tension and we begin to care just a little more. By that time we are hooked, and too much of the running time has elapsed to give up.

Michael Madsen plays the boyfriend of Angie Everhart, a beautiful and successful restaurant owner who "mistakenly" hits a seeming drifter on her way to work. This drifter winds up staying on the premises of Everhart's house where he begins to meddle and then wreak havoc on her and her boyfriend's lives.

The plot does not break the barriers of originality. It reminds us of Fatal Attraction and perhaps a host of lesser derivatives that followed. Yet, the effectiveness of the movie lies in its mounting tension. There is also a nice chase scene at the beginning and other well directed scenes of terror. Beyond that, The Stray is a competent "B" movie thriller, one that holds its own opposite a dozen other less known or unknown movies on any given cable movie channel.

The Stray is a good action thriller and i don't understand why all the bad comments are made about it. OK, so it may not have as much action as Die Hard or be as mysterious as Mystic River, but if you want a movie you can munch popcorn to and be at the edge of your seat, this is the movie for you! Michael Madsen has stunning performances in it, as well as the rest of the crew! This is basically a mysterious/action/thriller that boys will love because of the action and girls will love because of.. well, Michael Madsen! If you are very impatient, however, and like stories to start straight away, without not tensity, then better give this a miss and rent out Jackie Brown..

On July 4 at the beach, a man with an Uncle Sam mask picks up a duffel bag that was dropped in a trash can as bait. All of a sudden numerous undercover cops are after him.

Uncle Sam ends up at a fireworks show and makes a few fireworks of his own.

Meanwhile, Kate Grayson--wearing a backless dress--is celebrating the reopening of her father's elegant restaurant, Grayson's, which is on the beach near a pretty lighthouse.

Kate goes home to Ben, a detective who doesn't seem ready to commit to her. After one year, he still hasn't moved any of his stuff in, and he still has his own place.

The next day Kate is driving and uses her cell phone to find out how well the restaurant did the previous night. Uh-oh! She hits someone! Never use your cell phone while driving! Gil Draper is homeless and needs a place to recover, so Kate lets him live in a storage room at her fabulous mansion. With her dollhouse and other valuable items.

Gil seems to recover fast. He's very helpful around the house, and very charming, as he tries to pay Kate back. Ben is not happy, although he does try to make friends with Gil.

Eventually, things start happening. You just knew they would. And, yes, Uncle Sam is involved. There is an exciting chase involving motorcycles. There is violence, but it's not too bad.

I can't say the movie is that good, but Stefan Lysenko gives a better performance than most. There are a few enjoyable scenes even before the weird stuff. Angie Everhart looks good, especially in her jogging outfit.

The movie starts with closeups of the dollhouse, which has a lot of intricate detail and looks really fancy. It's more like a miniature mansion. From the music, you already know this movie with be eerie. and we keep seeing that dollhouse, as if it will play some important role.

Eventually we are rewarded, sort of. It's just a Lifetime movie.

Its hard to believe that Michael Madsen could swoop so low and make such a calamity of a movie. Didn't he pick up any tips from Tarantino during Reservoir Dogs..tut, tut, tut

First of all, the car chase at the beginning of the movie is from Basic Instinct (literally...except the inside the car shots...that for me was pretty pathetic)

As the film evolves, however, it just get worse. A poor script, bad acting and sloppy, unattractive directing is a basic summary of this movie. The music of the film is also pity-full.

Oh, by the way, the story is about this cop (Madsen) on pursuit of a killer. His partner gets killed and the killer wriggles his way into the cop's girlfriend's life. The film has a dark secret which is supposed to keep you "glued" to the screen...

My advice is don't make the same mistake I did and watch it...Just think about all the other things I could have done instead ...like make a salad or wash my dog...

Some talented individuals are involved with the creation of this drastically inferior movie, but they appear to be functioning at cross-purposes, a result being a wearisome and hackneyed piece of hogwash with nary a visible saving grace. Most of the scenario makes little sense but it essentially involves a homeless man (Stefan Lysenko) who hurls himself in front of a quickly moving sedan driven by his target for psychological demoralization (based upon a long-festering reason): Kate Grayson, played by Angie Everhart (identified as Vonna Grayson on the package), somehow presuming that he will not die from being struck down, but will instead be asked to reside in the garage of the woman, become her intimate, and so on. This is largely a stuntathon with action frequently stuttering as the athletic performers, including vehicle drivers and riders, function in a significant number of scenes, and that is certainly to the good, as a coherent script is not in use here, and some relief is thereby given to the several capable actors on board from having to deal with consistently lumpish dialogue. Film editor Kevin Mock, in his first feature as director, provides weak helmsmanship and would have been well-advised to edit the entire piece onto the cutting room floor, for it is obvious that even if trailer footage not included in the final print were retained, failings of logic and continuity would be equally as withering as they are in the distribution release. Michael Madsen, who in general merely plays as himself in his films, and for the most part to everyone's advantage and pleasure, seems defeated, simply walking through his poorly written role as lover of Kate, while Everhart, never much of an actress in any case as with most converted catwalkers, awkwardly emotes and moves, although she performs a service to viewers by clearly paraphrasing lines from other featured players so that they may be understood, of noteworthy value pertinent to enunciation deficient Lysenko; only Seidy Lopez successfully attempts to create a finished part in the face of picayune material. Although the camera-work is excellent and settings are deployed among commonly utilized picturesque Southern California location sites such as the Château Bradbury and Sable Ranch, substandard sound quality, in combination with Mock's telegraphic bent for predictability, increases the inconsistent nature of the storyline with an intended erotic scene between Everhart and Madsen being a woeful misfire, the actress seemingly sublimating an onset of giggles, while Madsen, inexplicably cast as a bearded police "detective", no doubt finds nothing so blithesome within the entire film; in fact, one must wonder why he took on his part in this forgettable yawn fest.