Review: Stuck

Release Date: February 22, 2013
Running Time: 83 minutes
Who to see it with: Someone who is interested in adoption.

David:

Stuck is a documentary that focuses on the issues and roadblocks to adoption. It follows families who are trying to adopt internationally and run into problems with the process and bureaucracy of the system. You can tell that the filmmakers are passionate about the subject and focus on the emotion of the adoption process. The problem is that they often focus too much on that emotion and forget some of the substance. Although there is critique of the system, there is not enough insight into what needs to be done to fix the issue. The movie brushes over issues such as corruption by saying it's a few bad apples spoiling it for the rest of the legit adopters. And the movie tries to tell many stories from different families, but jumps around so much that it makes it tough to follow. Yes, the movie is meant to be a clarion call to try and raise awareness about adoption but it doesn't offer much direction. I left with more knowledge about the terrible conditions for institutionalized children abroad, and some of the health and developmental issues that come along with this, but I had no idea how to fix the problem.

Rent it.