She shouldn't have... Really.

The plot itself is quite OK, if a bit on the light side. What makes this movie bad is the pacing and the actors. Even at 90 minutes, it seems very long. This may be because some of the actors (Maria Lídon and Danel Aser especially) speak EXTREMELY slowly without the slightest hint of emotion whatsoever. I recall Gallo saying (SPOILER) that only two people would be able to survive until help could be there, and Lídon asked "Only two people can survive?!?" (still without emotion) (END SPOILER)... She sounded just as blonde as she is. The crud that came out of Aser's mouth was horrendous as well... Since the movie is returned, I can't verify this, but it seemed to me that we were told at the start that they had been under way to Mars for 296 days (or there about), but later we are told that it takes 26 months... eh?

In short: unless you like slow movies with nice landscape pictures, stay clear of this. 4/10

There are two camps about "Stranded." It either is a scientifically stupid and poorly acted piece of drivel that draws out an obvious plot interminably, or it is a unique low-rent take on something quite interesting with moments of sheer delight.

I am in the latter camp.

Sure, the science makes no sense. Anyone with the first clue about space can spot the numerous errors. These include instant communication from Mars to Earth and so forth. Go pat yourself on the head for having the astounding perception to spot that sort of thing and whine about it. If that sort of thing bugs you, well, it's a shame you can't just learn to suspend your belief and go with the concept rather than the details. Allow yourself to be entertained and maybe you will be someday.

Rather than dwell on the negative, though, I focus on the attitude and the story - and I liked both. The attitude is pure Vincent Gallo. If you don't know who he is, I highly recommend you go out and find "Buffalo '66" somewhere. It is one of the most original films you will ever see with all sorts of inside jokes (most hilariously about the placekicker who cost the Buffalo Bills a key playoff win, but that's another story). "Buffalo '66" is one of those films that sticks with you as you wonder, "did he really do that?"

I am not some kind of Vincent Gallo groupie. He is an acquired taste. Acerbic, downright annoying, and resplendent in his indifferent and almost vulgar acting style, Gallo is perfect for the role of the "smart guy" know-it-all usually portrayed in sci-fi pablum as aliens (Vulcans, androids, whatever). Here, Gallo goes stays in his standard lane to pile on the dislikability intentionally like shoveling cement into a post hole. Most unexpectedly, it works. Gallo easily the strongest figure in the film precisely because he is unpredictable, direct, and operates unexpectedly for his character with utterly base motives. He is the axis around which the plot turns, the car crash on the roadside everyone stops to look at, and saves this film from ossifying from predictability and tedium..

Everybody else pretty much descends into one stereotype or another. There's the guy who thinks he can fix any problem if he just tries hard enough, the self-doubting replacement commander, the easygoing guy who you know isn't going to make it but will be everyone's friend until he goes, and so forth. The writing for the most part is pedestrian and obvious and you can spot the ending a light year away.

However, you can enjoy this film, you just need to be patient (meaning, have nothing better to do). There are moments that are transcendent in their uniqueness for a complete film. A guy who knows he's got no time left starts randomly talking about John Carter and Barzoom. Another guy, circling in the command module high above like a Michael Collins and perfectly safe while knowing the crew below has no hope, goes abruptly, "I've got to head back to Earth in two days. Well, gotta go, cya!" There's wild humor in this stuff if you read enough into it and what this says about how humans viscerally react in such situations without the phony macho posing.

But the best moment of the film belongs to Maria de Medeiros, who you might recognize from "Pulp Fiction." After Gallo's character makes one of the worst come-ons in any film anywhere but is oh-so-right for Gallo, she turns him down with some of the most pointed jabs of all time. Her suggestions of how they might portray him with a statue (undoubtedly portraying him doing what she recommends he do to enjoy himself for his final hours) is hilarious and devastating at the same time. We've been waiting the entire time for someone to finally tell Gallo's character off and it is a moment of pure catharsis. That scene would be totally impossible in any Hollywood cookie-cutter sci-fi film where everything has to be oh-so-serious and for that reason alone is so enjoyable to watch.

Yes, "Stranded" has all sorts of amateurish moments. The opening credits sequence is arduous to sit through, and if if you made it through that, you deserve a medal. The next half hour isn't much better. But if you go in just suspending your belief and look for the humor and fun in the (of course, Mr. Or Ms. Smart Guy Scientific Genius) completely impossible complications and payoff, you may actually find yourself entertained. And that goes double if you, like me, are unbearably tired of the same old Hollywood factory films that all follow the same tired conventions and have the same tired "complications" and tired plot twists and oh-so-clever tired dialog. Go watch something with Kristen Stewart or George Clooney or Matt Damon instead if that is what it takes to turn you on.

"Stranded" may have a lot of problems, but it has original moments that are pure gold. I liked it. I bet you will relish and remember some of its delicious moments long after you forget the longwinded and mundane bits.

My experience of this movie was mostly one of regret and longing for what it could, with minor improvements, have been, tempered with respect for what I believe its creators were trying to accomplish – in the words of its own website "…to excite audiences with a story that will seem credible and dramatic…".

To do this, they appear to have made, and succeeded in, and effort to avoid practically every sci-fi action cliché. This movie is essentially documentary in form, distinct from a true documentary in that it describes purely fictional events and people. On one level, this is refreshing, on another, tedious, but on any level, it is not cliché.

To succeed with this approach, however, a film's realism, with all the details that go into it, must be virtually flawless, so that well-science-informed viewers – who are likely to be the only people audience to fully appreciate and enjoy such a film – do not have their suspension of disbelief abused by such impossibilities as space helmets with visible gaps in their supposedly airtight seals, etc. Failure of such critical details effectively ruins the film beyond redemption, even if it succeeds brilliantly in other areas, such as the rendering of a convincing-looking Martian landscape.

Another area it can fail is if some or all of the characters fail to behave according to the well-informed viewers' expectations of how well-trained astronauts – or the viewers themselves - would behave. Though the interaction of the characters in "Stranded" seems genuine and realistic on occasion, it often doesn't, and, upon discovering the incredible, these supposed scientists and adventurers seem devoid of even normal curiosity. The only line of characterization that consistently feels real is the awe they feel at the beauty of the Martian surface and sky, despite the lethality these threaten.

I believe that the right technical consultant could have made this movie a classic on a par with "2001: A Space Odyssey" – while clearly made on a tighter budget, "Stranded" avoids the confusing metaphysical finale that many feels marred "2001". As it stands, I expect this movie will be lost and forgotten in the worlds discount DVD bins with barely a ripple in science fiction fandom. Even with its inevitable movie channel rotation, I will be surprised if it gathers 1,000 votes on IMDb.