Opening Day: 2 August 2007

Synopsis:

Revolution Studios' sexy thriller "Perfect Stranger" asks the question: how far would you go to keep a secret? When investigative reporter Rowena Price (Halle Berry) learns that her friend's murder might be connected to powerful ad executive Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis), she goes undercover with the help of her associate, Miles Hailey (Giovanni Ribisi). Posing as Katherine, a temp at Hill's agency, and Veronica, a girl Hill flirts with online, Rowena surrounds her prey from all sides, only to discover that she isn't the only one changing identities. The closer Rowena gets to finding the truth, the more we see how far people will go to protect it.

Movie Review:

The lead up to Perfect Stranger was novel, intriguing and indeed promising. Using a relatively new form of viral marketing, a few characters of the movie started blogs as well as posting mini-trailers onto Youtube. These were so believable that many actually thought that these were indeed real and not fictional.

However, few movies ever live up to their hype. Hollywood thrillers will never be the same after Shyamalan, giving audiences shocking twists and clever endings. And thus Perfect Stranger is one such victim, possessing such banal writing and dialogue, taking its audience as fools and including such a nauseating twist for a coda that it not only falls to the wayside; it’s so bad that few would ever remember it existed. One does wonder if several endings were shot – and then a panel of uncaring judges decided which ending the movie will take.

The basic premise of the story revolves around false identities and the Internet. Rowena Price (Halle Berry) is a reporter who tries to uncover the homicide of her childhood friend with the assistance of Miles (Giovanni Ribisi). Suspecting the murderer to be Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis). She then plays a dangerous game of cat and mouse online (and off) with Harrison, only to find out that she is not the only one changing identities.

The movie tries to be clever and smart – yet all the dialogue is sluggish and disengaging. Everything works towards and is written towards the final exposition. There is hardly any attempt at character development with the main actors (much less the supporting cast) and one does not feel or care for any of the characters. I really could not care less if anything happened to any of them.

I worry for Halle Berry. From the time she appeared out of the ocean in James Bond, and her Oscar for Monster’s Ball, she was all set for stardom. Then she won that Razzie. It was downhill for her since. In all her ‘three’ roles in Perfect Stranger, perhaps, no most definitely, she would be up for her next. Bruce Willis comes across as more comfortable here, but he has been playing roles like these since the beginning of time. I just want to know, what were going through these two heavyweights’ minds when they read the scripts and signed on for this film?

Movie Rating:

(Far from perfect)

Review by Darren Sim