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Stuff and Dough

Play trailer Poster for Stuff and Dough 2008 1h 31m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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73% Tomatometer 11 Reviews 67% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Ovidiu (Alexandru Papadopol), a poor youth in seaside Constanta, Romania, has dropped out of school to try and make enough money to open a kiosk with his parents. When a local "businessman" offers him a wad of cash to deliver a secret package to Bucharest, Ovidiu hits the road, with his best friend (Dragos Bucur) and girlfriend (Ioana Flora) along for the ride. When they realize they're being tailed by a car, the friends discover they're caught in a trap from which they can't escape.

Critics Reviews

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Andrew O'Hehir Salon.com 05/01/2008
Like so many recent Romanian films, Stuff and Dough is tremendously well made on almost no budget, and blends the rhythms of ordinary life with a subtly ominous atmosphere and elements of thriller. Go to Full Review
V.A. Musetto New York Post 04/25/2008
3.5/4
New York is beginning to look like Bucharest on the Hudson. Go to Full Review
Sam Adams AV Club 04/24/2008
B-
Making the minutiae of life hold continuous interest is no easy task, as demonstrated by [Cristi] Puiu's fledgling first feature, 2001's Stuff And Dough. Go to Full Review
Patrick Gamble The Skinny 06/01/2016
4/5
Its austerity masks a finely tuned script about the difficulties of navigating between corruption and survival when individual aspiration is put above all else. Go to Full Review
Leo Goldsmith Reverse Shot 08/08/2009
Ultimately, like Lazarescu, Ovidiu becomes a mere cog in a social and economic system that would chew him up without a moment's consideration, and it's Puiu's goal to elevate this and other such stories above their banality and into the realm of myth. Go to Full Review
John P. McCarthy Boxoffice Magazine 04/24/2008
2.5/5
Anyone prone to carsickness should bypass Stuff and Dough, unless they have an unquenchable desire to understand Romanian society or a keen interest in the career development of one of its best filmmakers. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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06/01/2016 Low budget Romanian road trip movie with a finely tuned script and natural performances that mixes mundanity and menace to turn a kitchen sink drama into (almost) a thriller. Excellent early feature length from Cristi Puiu. See more 05/02/2009 the film was great even though i didn't understand the final part of it See more 02/11/2009 This is a fine piece of filmmaking, capturing a particular point in time in the history of a particular people. Able directing abetted by believable performances. The camera work is skillful in moves that could be monotonous. Highly recommended. See more 06/02/2008 I loved this fucking movie. See more walter m @Harlequin68 05/05/2008 [font=Century Gothic]In "Stuff and Dough," Ovidiu(Alexandru Papadopol) is sleeping, dreaming of owning his own food stall, when he is interrupted by Marcel(Razvan Vasilescu), an older businessman. Marcel wants him to drive to Budapest by 2:00 pm and drop off a package, for which he will be handsomely compensated. Only he cannot tell anybody what is in the package and must go alone. That having been said, Ovidiu calls his buddy, Vali(Dragos Bucur), who calls his girlfriend, Betty(Ioana Flora). The ride goes well for the trio until they encounter a red van...[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Stuff and Dough" is an entertaining movie that goes on about ten to fifteen minutes too long in an attempt to make its point in huge letters. In fact, the movie gives little depth to its characters(even worse, Betty is 100% cipher). And the only thing of substance that is said about modern day Romania is the need for wider and better roads, not to mention more polite drivers.[/font] See more 05/03/2008 the copy I saw had horrendious cut. And it was kind of lame for a realism film even if I consider all this takes place iin Romania ... or maybe especially because of that having come from Central Europe myself... ouch. See more Read all reviews
Stuff and Dough

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Movie Info

Synopsis Ovidiu (Alexandru Papadopol), a poor youth in seaside Constanta, Romania, has dropped out of school to try and make enough money to open a kiosk with his parents. When a local "businessman" offers him a wad of cash to deliver a secret package to Bucharest, Ovidiu hits the road, with his best friend (Dragos Bucur) and girlfriend (Ioana Flora) along for the ride. When they realize they're being tailed by a car, the friends discover they're caught in a trap from which they can't escape.
Director
Cristi Puiu
Producer
Cristi Puiu
Screenwriter
Razvan Radulescu, Cristi Puiu
Distributor
Mitropoulos Films
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Romanian
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 23, 2008, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 12, 2017
Runtime
1h 31m