REVIEW: Stranglehold [2026]

Rating: NR | Runtime: 105 minutes
Release Date: October 2nd, 2026 (USA)
Studio: Quiver Distribution
Director(s): Clark Duke
Writer(s): Chandler Duke, Clark Duke & Billington Garrett

Bailey married a terrorist?

Did I like Clark Duke’s Arkansas? Yes. Should I have liked Clark Duke’s Arkansas? Probably not. But taste is a capitalist construct, and you should just own whatever it is you find enjoyment in. So, I smiled when the prospect of watching his follow-up Stranglehold came around. I knew it wasn’t going to be a dark horse for my best film of the year, but I also assumed I’d have some fun. Lo and behold I was correct. Because stupid fun is still fun.

Co-written by Duke, his brother Chandler (who plays the much maligned idiot Leon), and Billington Garrett, the story follows a down on her luck stripper named Bailey (Ashley Benson) who’s desperately trying to keep her little family together despite her husband’s (Jake Lacy’s Tim) penchant for drinking, playing video games, and pretending he was a soldier undercutting every chance of doing so. With backs against the wall, it’s time for a Hail Mary.

Her douchebag boss (Justin Long’s Junior) can’t keep his mouth shut and the people he tells can’t either, so a secret Christmas Eve party his father (Ron Perlman’s Roger) planned for out-of-state mob bosses becomes the drunken stupor answer to their dreams. With Tim’s training and Bailey’s insider info, they think they can rob the place without hurting anyone. The problem, though, is that their amateurs look like geniuses compared to Junior’s posse.

The result isn’t as good as Arkansas (which will probably make many of you run for the hills since you didn’t think anything could be worse) and its broadly comedic satire on MAGA America spiraling upon realizing they voted against their own best interests sadly ensures all working class Americans catch strays, but Duke mocks himself via a decent Instagram gag to show he’s just taking the piss out of the country’s collective fiasco more than anything else.

You’ve got backwoods boys like Leon thinking terrorists came to their town for no reason other than the delusion that jihadists running roughshod over the USA is why they own AK-47s. There’s aspiring nurse Dixie (Cody Kennedy) prostituting herself to pay for school. Taylor’s (Elle King) wannabe stripper who Junior won’t let strip because he doesn’t find her attractive. And a slew of other caricatures from the likes of Brian Posehn and David Arquette.

Less about plot than watching how selfish, inconsiderate, and violent people get when they’re constantly beaten down instead of offered a helping hand, everything that occurs before the climactic heist is about character development and motivation rather than narrative progression. We were always going to get to a shootout, so why waste time pretending otherwise? Set-up the power dynamics that will be exploited once we get there instead.

Add a breathalyzer car starter and a baby’s unchecked screen time teaching her how to blow into it when her parents are ready to pass out and Stranglehold never pretends it’s trying to be something it’s not. So, I don’t necessarily mind the uneven messaging since thinking it will contain nuanced commentary says more about you than it. See an effective “gotcha” about choosing between Netflix and medication. It’s about affordability yet feels like it’s mocking the poor.

I’d love for Duke to do a few more drafts to make sure he’s punching up rather than down. It’s a delicate line that the “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” crew perfected while so many others miss the mark. We should only be laughing at the characters. If your jokes are constructed for us to laugh with them too, your satire becomes a defense at worst or a “both sides” cop-out at best. Duke succeeds more often than not, but I did wince a few times.

The cast doesn’t seem to mind, though. They all play it straight (Benson and Lacy do their best to get their characters’ plight across in ways that make us empathize with the former and despise the latter) and let the absurdity of the situation carry the humor. Even Arquette’s beleaguered DJ holds an underlying sorrow that renders his actions sad rather than malicious. None of them are perfect, but few survive. It’s always easier to stomach when most get their just deserts.

Ashley Benson in STRANGLEHOLD; courtesy of Quiver Distribution.