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Stuff and Dough

Play trailer Poster for Stuff and Dough Released Apr 23, 2008 1h 31m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
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

View All (11) Critics Reviews
Andrew O'Hehir Salon.com 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. May 1, 2008 Full Review V.A. Musetto New York Post New York is beginning to look like Bucharest on the Hudson. Rated: 3.5/4 Apr 25, 2008 Full Review Sam Adams AV Club 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. Rated: B- Apr 24, 2008 Full Review Patrick Gamble The Skinny Its austerity masks a finely tuned script about the difficulties of navigating between corruption and survival when individual aspiration is put above all else. Rated: 4/5 Jun 1, 2016 Full Review Leo Goldsmith Reverse Shot 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. Aug 8, 2009 Full Review John P. McCarthy Boxoffice Magazine 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. Rated: 2.5/5 Apr 24, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (6) audience reviews
Audience Member 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. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member the film was great even though i didn't understand the final part of it Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member 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. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member I loved this fucking movie. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review walter m [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] Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member 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. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review 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