Stay wants to be a cinematic puzzle, but watching it is like watching someone elaborately scatter a puzzle’s pieces across a table. The film never delivers the satisfaction of getting two pieces to click. As such, it’s difficult to get too involved by Dr. Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor), a psychiatrist treating a suicidal patient (Ryan Gosling, whose trademark intensity verges on self-parody here). The resulting story is fussily enigmatic. Some of the
idiosyncrasies prove to be clues, while others – such as the fact that McGregor never wears socks with his ankle-high tweed suits – are simply, well, idiosyncratic. From director Marc Foster.
