Perfect Stranger [Blu-ray] - Dark Publications

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Product Description
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 08/21/2007 Run time: 124 minutes Rating: R

Amazon.com
Perfect Stranger is saved from conventional starlet-in-distress mediocrity by a certain refreshing unwholesomeness, a tawdry strain that runs all the way through its climactic series of kickers. Halle Berry plays a "gotcha" reporter, currently undercover to nail a famous advertising tycoon (Bruce Willis)--not for a story, but because Berry thinks he might be involved in a friend's murder. The distasteful nature of Berry trying to seduce the married exec adds some spice, and so does her pervy assistant (Giovanni Ribisi), whose voyeuristic tendencies indicate more than customary comic relief--at the least, he's a hefty red herring. There are other red herrings, mostly beginning to smell, in the rather ramshackle script. Director James Foley, who has a talent for hothouse intensity (Glengarry Glen Ross, At Close Range) gives this material more edge than it probably deserves, although he can't make Berry convincing, and she and Ribisi are completely wrong as simpatico best friends. Willis looks good by comparison, turning a one-note role into a subtle act of professionalism. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews: Read 89 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Good film but takes it's time. July 25, 2007
30 out of 36 found this review helpful

This is a pretty good film but it realy does take its time to get going. Have to say that for about 2/3 of the film you are realy struggling to keep your attention especially due to the plot realy not helping much.

Film starts with the brutal murder of a friend of Halle Berry, prime suspect is Bruce Willis who runs a large company. Berry decides to investigate by posing as a temp in his company and on an internet chat/date service which Willis uses to pick up women for his numerous affairs.

The film does kind of drag on but their is a nice little twist at the end, you are thrown a couple of hints to this throughout the film but it is only at the end when they all come together. Sort of reminds me a littel of Gothica Berrys other film (more in the sense of there being a traumatic event in the past that someone in the film has to come to terms with)

One big problem with the film is that it does at times try to be clever what with all the internet chat, breaking through firewalls etc the problem with all this is it has been done so many times before.

Though Willis is on the cover of this film he realy takes a bit of a background role it is Berry who is the main actress in this. Think the director of this film has made a point of picking out the lowest cut dresses he could find for Berry to fit into.

Overall a good film worth watching.

1 out of 5 stars

So bad, I'd recommend Glitter before this trash April 15, 2007
24 out of 27 found this review helpful

In the movie Perfect Stranger Halle Berry plays Rowena, a journalist dedicated to uncovering greed and corruption among people in positions of power (read: rich, white men) with the help of her tech-savvy partner in crime, Miles (Giovanni Ribisi). She writes under the name of David Shane, perhaps in an effort to give her stories more clout among those she seeks to bring to justice. Rowena is partying in a bar with Miles, celebrating the success of her latest story, a senator who has a penchant for sleeping with his male interns, when her boss comes in to tell her that the story is being shut down by the bigwigs at her paper. Rowena quits her job in a huff and runs out of the bar, only to be followed by a friend from her past, Grace.

Grace seems to know all about Rowena's secret identity as David Shane, and hands Rowena a story that will help her rebuild her career and show the men at her paper that she really is a great journalist. Grace is involved with Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis), the owner of the largest advertising agency in New York, H2A. Grace met Hill in an Internet chat room and became sexually involved with him. Hill, a married man, breaks off their affair in due time, but Grace refuses to go away quietly. She wants Hill exposed as a cheater and a liar and she wants Rowena to do the exposing. Rowena takes Grace's evidence, but doesn't agree to do the story. When Grace turns up dead a week later, Rowena finally decides to investigate. She infiltrates H2A, with Miles's help, and poses as a temp to get closer to Hill. She wants to find out if he's the man behind Grace's death, but she doesn't suspect she might begin to fall for him in the interim...

Coming from a person who likes bad movies and revels in the trash that Oscar winners go on to star in (eg, Catwoman, Aeon Flux), Perfect Stranger is virtually unwatchable. For starters, there's the director's penchant for extreme close-ups. And I mean extreme. At one point, I could see the inside of Bruce Willis's nostrils. Then, there's the newsboy cap that Halle Berry runs around in for most of the film, which I guess is meant to convince us that she's really a journalist. Also, we have Berry's gratuitous sex scenes with the hottie from CSI, which in no way add to the plot or continuity of the movie, but I guess if men don't get to hear Halle Berry talking dirty they won't feel they've gotten their money's worth. And let me not forget the fact that Halle Berry takes on a distinct lisp when she says the F-word (seriously, every single time it sounds like she might spit on someone), and she says it quite a few times over the course of the film. Finally, there was the end-of-the-movie voice-over wrap up, which I just cannot tolerate. You know what I mean (think Wild Things), when the movie's ending doesn't make any sense so instead a voice-over tells you all the clues you were supposed to have seen but didn't, so that the real story can be uncovered. It's a cop out and sloppy story-telling, and put the finishing touches on an already crappy film.

There were 100 other things wrong with this movie that I might have been able to forgive if it had aired on Lifetime instead of in a movie theater. I laughed out loud more times than I can count, and this movie is billed as a "psychological thriller," not a comedy. Take my advice and rent Wild Things or Gothika or heck, even Glitter, and you'll be guaranteed to have a better time than wasting $8 to see this drivel.

4 out of 5 stars

Meets All the Needs of a Good Thriller August 19, 2007
21 out of 27 found this review helpful

This movie really has a lot going for it. Great actors, an interesting and unique premise, just the right amount of excitement, and a halfway decent twist at the end!

"Perfect Strangers" takes audiences on a thrilling journey as one woman fights to uncover the truth behind the murder of a childhood friend. After evidence suggests Rowena's ex-friend, Grace, was murdered by a millionaire married man she had met on the internet, Rowena goes undercover at Harrison Hill's ad agency to try to gather enough evidence to put him away. With the help of her technologically savvy friend, Rowena begins an illicit online affair with the target of her investigation -- but as usual, things are not always what they seem...

I really enjoyed this film. It held my attention, and kept me interested. A couple times I thought I had figured out the twist, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover I was wrong (don't worry, I won't give anything away!). Interestingly enough, they actually filmed 3 different endings -- each one with a different person as the killer. I'm satisfied with the ending they chose, but it would have been nice to see the other 2 alternate endings in the form of a special feature. Sadly, the only special features available on this disc are a "making of" featurette, and a couple trailers. I would have really liked to see more special features.

As thrillers go, I think this is a solid film. Bruce Willis's character was a little stoic and one-dimensional, but in a quiet, creepy sort of way (which overall works to the benefit of the movie). Halle Berry is beautiful as ever, and even though I'm not sure the chemistry between Ms. Berry and Mr. Willis was exactly electric, I think they did what they could with the material, and played off each other fairly well.

One of the things I liked most about this movie was that it was very adult. More and more often, studios are watering down the material to obtain a PG-13 rating in the hopes of appealing to a wider (i.e. old and young) audience. This movie is rated R, and it's not afraid to show it. There's sex, violence, and language -- but it also doesn't rely too heavily on disgusting gore to get it's point across (although, admittedly, there are a few disturbing images -- but again, it doesn't overdo it too much).

Bottom line, don't miss out. I think you might be as pleasantly surprised as I was! 4 stars all the way.

1 out of 5 stars

Stupid Film September 19, 2007
17 out of 25 found this review helpful

This film was so bad I don't even know where to begin. We have a reporter who relies on her lackey to do EVERYTHING for her. Do all you reviewers who are giving this film high marks realize that? Halle just shows up to flirt and lead men on. Her lackey hacker, who incidently never works on his own work, jump through hoops and hands her everything on a silver platter. True, he was a bit of a freak, but she knew that, didn't she? When the ending is revealed, because people stop in the middle of the movie and tell you EVERYTHING, you quickly realize that the film was lying to you from the jump and that there was no way you could figure out what anything had to do with anything. So then you're left with why on earth did she go after Harrison if, well you know-the big reveal, when no one was looking for Grace's murderer. If they were, we certainly didn't get to see that. And why now? After all these years, Grace didn't make any real threats. Why did I have to sit through ex-boyfriend drama and watching Berry put on a pair of panties? Actually, I'm just disgusted and glad I didn't pay one dime to see this. I suggest you do the same.

4 out of 5 stars

Secrets that grow, both offline...and on August 23, 2007
9 out of 10 found this review helpful

Perfect Stranger is a very interesting film as it explores a few different topics, one of them being the aura of anonymous online communication. The other main topic would be the damage of a person's psyche from a childhood experience, as seen with the main character in this movie (played by Halle Berry) that also stars Bruce Willis and Giovanni Ribisi.

From the previews, this film seems like it is going to have a pretty basic plot, but fortunately there are so many more things going on in terms of twists and turns that it is a pleasant surprise, especially at the end. Although the film seems a tad slow at times, it never made me feel like it was losing direction, and kept throwing enough suspenseful scenes and questionable possibilities at me that I was never bored with its overall style.

Bruce Willis fans may be disappointed for the simple fact his character is not really a main focus in the film, but you better believe that the mere presence of this actor adds a lot to the character he plays. The film starts picking up steam when Berry's character (Rowena) finds herself running into some deadly secrets that could mean trouble for her if they are let out into the open. Rabisi's character (Miles) is a tech savvy friend who helps her out in many ways, but has some mysterious things going on in his own present day world. Overall I really just liked the characters and especially enjoyed how well written this script was, it had a good depth within the back stories of the main characters and answered many questions at the end, although you may not like the way some answers come down the pipe!

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