Stay (2006)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Bob Goldthwait

Writer (WGA):

Bob Goldthwait (written by)

Release Date:

21 February 2007 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A youthful, impulsive sexual encounter opens the door to a dark comedy about the complexities of honesty.

Plot:

'Stay' is a romantic comedy in which a girl's relationships are destroyed when she reluctantly reveals a past indiscretion. 'Stay' will move and touch you -- maybe in a bad way.

Plot Keywords:

Secret | Kissing | Mother Daughter Relationship | Prison | Marriage Proposal

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Melinda Page Hamilton	...	Amy
Bryce Johnson	...	John
Geoffrey Pierson	...	Dad (as Geoff Pierson)
Colby French	...	Ed
Jack Plotnick	...	Dougie
Bonita Friedericy	...	Mom
Brian Posehn	...	Randy
Morgan Murphy	...	Linda
Steve Agee	...	Carl
Lisa Salzano	...	Wrestling Girl #2
Candiss Cogdill	...	Wrestling Girl #3
Harvey J. Alperin	...	Principal
Ernest Misko	...	Priest (as Ernie Misko)
Rebecca Avery	...	Rest Area Mom
Kira Burri	...	Rest Area Girl

Also Known As:

Sleeping Dogs (UK)
Sleeping Dogs Lie (USA) (new title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong and aberrant sexual content, drug use and language.

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | UK:18 | Ireland:18 | Australia:MA | New Zealand:R16 | Finland:K-15 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

HareBrained Pictures

Trivia:

This entire project was shot in 16 days in and around Los Angeles in Guerrilla Filmmaking style.

Quotes:

Amy: That's right, in college I blew my dog.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Strictly Background (2007)

Soundtrack:

You Got It

An unusual film

You fall in love. You know, you get that really special feeling, an amazing connection . . . ? "This could be the one," you say, "I feel I could tell this person anything." Total love, total honesty, total forgiveness. Unconditional.

Not!! Don't see this film with your fiancé, see it on your own . . .

Sleeping Dogs Lie is not standard rom-com, a tidy melodrama, or a gross-out comedy. It second-guesses the audience with its unconventional examination of relationships and the ideas we maybe too easily take for granted. Like the emotional headbanger movie, Closer, you will perhaps want time to think of the answers to give your beloved before they ask questions based on this movie. The best time to analyse relationships is when you're not in one. The second best time, as our intelligent, pretty, 26yr old protagonist discovers, is when you're learning from your past mistakes.

Amy (Melinda Page Hamilton) is fairly sure that John is the guy for her. They reach the, "Tell me something you've never told anyone else" stage. Yes, we're talking sexual things. But not on screen - just verbal and emotional. Trouble is, Amy is worried John won't love her if she tells him of her dark teenage misdemeanour.

If you have done something bad, that didn't hurt anyone else, you didn't intend any harm, and no-one found out, is telling your other half part of that 'total honesty' equation? Sharing feels good (selfish, but OK). Telling them before they find out from someone else is probably good tactics (selfish really, from fear, or at best protecting trust). But love for the other person isn't technically part of it. Not that you believe that. Amy goes for trial and error. John gives her a 'skeleton' and she wimps out. She gives him a made-up confession that he finds a turn on. For now.

When someone else finds out it might be accidental - but it can come back to haunt. Honesty involves more than intellectual decision. What if your mind 'forgives' someone but your sexual urge doesn't? And if you get the moral high ground, will that tempt you to lie so as to keep it? The film's resolution works on a 'minimising hurt to others' idea, which is quite convincing. Am I going to tell you Amy's secret? No - cos if I do, it will give you the wrong idea of the film, and it's in the first reel anyway.

This is a low budget movie ($50,000) that was very well received at the Sundance and San Sebastian film festivals. Acting is excellent, but the characters are not always very rounded and it is too uneven, uncategorisable a film for general viewing. Audience distance is made even greater by use of techniques like contrasting music ("When You're Smiling"' plays as they drive through miserable silence). I was about to get bored with it, but was already wondering if it was taking an avant-garde approach rather than being just an amateurish mainstream film. It comes very close to the bone when characters 'demand' that the object of their 'love' is 'honest' with them. (Do you have the right to insist on information about that part of someone's life that doesn't concern you?) The dilemmas are reflected into other relationships. Amy has to attend a funeral (she has fallen out with her Father - "I need you to love me, Daddy"), and needs a cigarette. "I didn't want you to know I knew," her father says.

Sleeping Dogs Lie may seem slapdash or tedious if you don't buy into the cerebral and emotional challenge. If you do, you may find it, as I did, quite edifying as well - as heartbreakingly poignant.