Perfect Stranger

Review by Clare Bath

What starts out like an episode of CSI (ironically, Gary Dourdan, one of the show’s stars, is part of the cast here) turns into a whodunit with more turns than a spin cycle.

Rowena (Halle Berry) is a frustrated journalist who goes undercover to bust big-time advertising executive Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis) for, what she believes, is murder. Her friend, Miles (Giovanni Ribisi), is the techno-nerd who helps her dig up the dirt on the guy.

What starts out as a very entertaining and rather simple clear-cut thriller starts to get messier as it progresses. As Rowena points out, anyone is capable of a murder if the right ingredients are present at the right time…With so much suspicion being cast around the time of the film’s loopy third act, well, I was starting to suspect maybe I was the killer!

Plot-holes and lazy storytelling aside, there are some saving graces to this reasonably fun film.

Most notably, the character of the complex and layered Miles, played with utter conviction by the amazing Giovanni Ribisi. Miles is a whole new take on the protagonist’s sidekick role, marbled with subterfuge, deception, and obsession – as well as a computer genius. Ribisi’s stand out performance should be studied by thespians and psycho-computer geeks alike. Berry and Willis, though both charming and likable, never quite pull their parts off the way Ribisi does. He quite simply, steals the show.

One can’t look too far from the slapdash third act though. The movie loses it just when it should start ramping up for the big climax. Numbed by so many twists and turns, audiences will start to lose their aptitude to care about the upshot. Director James Foley did a nice job of captivating the audience early on, drawing them into the mystery, but perhaps needed to reexamine the pacing of the story around the end of the film.

Still, if it’s a sexy and entertaining adult thriller you’re after… you’ll need a face-washer to cool your brow after this!

3.5 out of 5

Perfect Stranger
Australian release: 19th April, 2007
Cast: Halle Berry, Bruce Willis, Giovanni Ribisi, Gary Dourdan, Krista Allen
Director: James Foley
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