Stay

Directed by Marc Forster, Stay follows a psychiatrist (Ewan McGregor’s Sam Foster) as he attempts to maintain a grip on reality while treating a suicidal patient (Ryan Gosling’s Henry Letham). Filmmaker Forster, armed with David Benioff’s screenplay, delivers a stylish, watchable drama that benefits from its strong performances and undercurrent of mystery, and it’s clear, in terms of the latter, that the picture receives plenty of mileage out of its recurring emphasis on appealingly head-scratching elements and digressions – although, by that same token, there’s little doubt that the dream-logic atmosphere can be, particularly towards the off-the-wall third act, a little oppressive. And while the whole thing is rarely, if ever, as memorable (or gripping) as Forster has obviously intended, Stay generally comes off as a decent-enough endeavor that’s elevated by its stars’ agreeable efforts (as well as by the efforts of an eclectic periphery cast that includes Bob Hoskins, Janeane Garofalo, and Naomi Watts).

**1/2 out of ****