Stretch (2014)

Stretch is the kind of midnight-movie thrill ride that reminds you how much fun a film can have just keeping you breathless and off-balance, sprinting through Los Angeles with a grin and a pulse. Joe Carnahan directs like he’s got a live wire in his pocket—snappy, propulsive, and gleefully brash—while Patrick Wilson gives the limo-driver-at-the-end-of-his-rope premise real comedic desperation you can actually root for. Then Chris Pine storms in as the night’s chaos engine, turning every scene into a dare that’s equal parts funny and unnerving without ever bogging the movie down. It’s not for viewers who want subtlety or a calm, tidy tone, but if you’re craving a fast, eccentric action-comedy with a thriller’s momentum, this one goes down like a shot.

Stretch is trying to be a one-night-in-LA pressure-cooker: a scrappy, neon-lit crime-comedy where a desperate limo driver gets dragged through escalating chaos by an unhinged rich guy. When it clicks, Joe Carnahan delivers some propulsive energy and Chris Pine is enjoyably committed to the “wild-card passenger” bit, with a few sharp, grimy laughs along the way. The problem is the movie often confuses loud for funny and frantic for exciting, leaning into a cartoonish, obnoxious tone that can feel puerile and uneven rather than cleverly unhinged. If you like slick, satisfying payoffs or characters you can actually root for, this may feel like a long, bumpy ride; if you’re into abrasive, anything-goes midnight-movie chaos, you’ll likely be more forgiving.