Perfect Stranger

Starring: Halle Berry, Bruce Willis, Giovanni Ribisi, Richard Portnow, Gary Doudan, Nicki Aycox
Directed by: James Foley
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Thriller
2007

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An investigative reporter (Halle Berry) begins to suspect a rich advertising executive (Bruce Willis) is guilty of murdering her childhood friend (Nicki Aycox), whom he had been having an affair with. Now, she and her partner (Giovanni Ribisi) try to infiltrate his agency to uncover evidence to prove he is guilty of murder.

Review:

Tim: I really like movies that are determined to throw twists at the audience, which keeps us on our toes. Too often, moviegoers get comfortable in the middle of a movie, so it is refreshing to have our minds shocked as we need to rethink our assumptions. Perfect Stranger certainly throws a number of twists at us- some we certainly see coming, others we do not. However, the problem here is that it is not enough to pull the rug out from under us- the twists actually need to make sense. Sadly, here, they don't always. Some are so absurd that they come across as mean-spirited, as if the movie deliberately tricked us- not through its own ingenuity, but by cheap slight of hand. Audiences love to be surprised, but the surprises need to make sense, instead of having the film simply say "Everything we told you isn't exactly true- this is what is true instead." I wish I could go into more detail, but I don't want to spoil the movie.

The cast is decent, but no one really seems all that interested in the film. Most of the main stars sleepwalk through their parts. The whole movie felt collectively silly, as if the cast themselves knew they were only here for a paycheck. Halle Berry is decent enough, but she's not good by any stretch of the imagination. Her character is flawed, confusing, and occasionally stupid. I didn't really enjoy her very much. Bruce Willis gets the chance to show a darker side, which I typically appreciate. He does a good job of being a likeable scumbag, which keeps the movie believable for the most part. He certainly seems capable of murder, but you believe he could be innocent, too. Giovanni Ribisi gives a darker, complicated performance, but I mostly liked him in the role. I did not like the chemistry between Berry and Ribisi- I never believed that these two could actually be friends or would work well together. That hurt the movie quite a bit.

This film is at least mostly watchable. We are presented with an interesting mystery, and we want to see it through to its conclusion. Along the way, we get a surprising number of twists. Some of these you can see coming, but this doesn't hurt the film because they still manage to keep us off balance while we watch. A few twists we don't see coming, including the film's largest, which makes us feel cheated instead of surprised. Films should shock you, but should never make you feel as if you were downright cheated. That is the film's biggest flaw, besides not being invested in any of the characters (there is not even a partially likeable character in this entire seedy affair). I like darker movies, but not ones so pitch black that you simply can't care about anyone.

Perfect Stranger definitely gets some points for trying to tell a different, dark story. However, the execution is surprisingly bad, which makes this a poor movie all around. I certainly saw the possibility in this movie for me to really, really like it, but I honestly can't say that I did. In many ways, this is just a stupid, ineffective thriller.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5



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