Now, I admire Goldthwaite for trying to give his deliriously filthy movie some thematic weight, to have it be more than just a mindless sex comedy, but I don’t think he handles the shift very well. “Stay” has its one outrageous idea, and it keeps coming back to it for laughs for 90 minutes.Ībout 60 minutes into the film, there is an abrupt change in tone, when things suddenly become serious for a while. Imagine if “There’s Something About Mary” had been centered around the hair-gel scene, instead of just including that as one comic element. Because make no mistake: This is a one-joke movie. Either you think Amy’s secret is preposterously funny, or you think it’s creepy and disgusting and you won’t enjoy a movie that refers to it over and over and over again. So is it funny? I think people will probably either love it or hate it. Comedian Brian Posehn has a memorable scene, too, as one of Dougie’s friends. It must be exhausting playing a woman so oppressed by her own hilariously filthy past.Īlso worthy of note is Jack Plotnick as Amy’s meth-addict brother Dougie.
Goldthwait’s warped comic imagination takes flight at that point, and the revelation scene is just one of several squirm-inducing sequences, the sort of uncomfortable humor often mined on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “The Office.” My hat’s off to Melinda Page Hamilton, who carries the entire film, with all her character’s ups and downs, with charm and good humor. Couples in love want to be able to share EVERYTHING with each other, right? No secrets, right? While the two are visiting her parents - her sheltered, innocent mother (Bonita Friedericy) and her no-nonsense father (Geoff Pierson) - Amy finally reveals her secret to John. The question is whether she can ever tell anyone, and that question becomes relevant when she falls in love with John (Bryce Johnson), a handsome and perfect man whom she hopes to marry. I know! It’s awful! But it happened, and now, several years later, she retains the shame of this secret, as well she should.
The poor girl is named Amy (Melinda Page Hamilton), and one time when she was in college, out of boredom and curiosity and goodness knows what else, she did something sexual and naughty with a male of a different species. Do all that and you’re approaching the humiliation felt by the central character in “Stay” (renamed “Sleeping Dogs Lie” for theatrical release), a perverse and funny movie written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwaite. Now recast the secret to somehow involve a dog.
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