Perfect Stranger (2007)

Director:

James Foley

Writers (WGA):

Todd Komarnicki (screenplay)
Jon Bokenkamp (story)

Release Date:

13 April 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

How Far Would You Go To Keep A Secret?

Plot:

A journalist (Berry) goes undercover to ferret out businessman Harrison Hill (Willis) as her best friend's killer. Posing as one of his temps, she enters into a game of online cat-and-mouse.

Plot Keywords:

Witness | Killer | Newspaper Editor | Female Artist | Train

Cast

Halle Berry	...	Rowena Price
Bruce Willis	...	Harrison Hill
Giovanni Ribisi	...	Miles Haley
Richard Portnow	...	Narron
Gary Dourdan	...	Cameron
Florencia Lozano	...	Lieutenant Tejada
Nicki Aycox	...	Grace
Kathleen Chalfant	...	Elizabeth Clayton
Gordon MacDonald	...	Senator Sachs
Daniella Van Graas	...	Josie
Paula Miranda	...	Mia Hill
Patti D'Arbanville	...	Esmeralda
Clea Lewis	...	Gina
Tamara Feldman	...	Bethany
Gerry Becker	...	Jon Kirshenbaum

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content, nudity, some disturbing violent images and language.

Runtime:

109 min | 105 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:13 | South Korea:18 | UK:15 | Germany:16 | Malaysia:18PL | Singapore:NC-16 (edited version) | Ireland:16 | Australia:M (original rating) | Norway:15 | USA:R | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:15 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:18 | Brazil:14 | Peru:14 | Chile:14

Filming Locations:

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Revolution Studios

Trivia:

The filmmakers filmed three different endings to the film, each with a different character as the killer.

Goofs:

Continuity: Where Ro is eating her Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, the container is turned in several different motions and the amount at the top is different each time although her hands stay the same

Quotes:

Grace: Stroke a man's dick, you get him for one night. Stroke a man's ego, you get him for life.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Getaway: (#16.11)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

I Put a Spell on You

Mediocre start and finish, fair middle

Before seeing "Perfect Stranger", I was hoping for another hidden gem like "Twisted" (2004), which was also a murder mystery with a female lead and other big names in the cast and also got bad reviews; sadly, this film isn't it.

The film starts off poorly - it's a whodunit, but the victim is a character who appears in just one scene before getting bumped off, so we don't have enough time to like or even hate (as it usually happens in, say, the Agatha Christie mysteries) her; so it's harder to find a reason to care who killed her. The film improves somewhat in the middle, with a couple of tense scenes (like the one in the car with Willis suspecting Berry of being a spy, or Berry's entrance into Ribisi's "secret room"), and a few interesting (if brief) views of the net-chatting world. But then the ending comes, and it's a cheat - the perfect planning required for it is simply too far-fetched (IMDB trivia says they filmed three alternative endings with three alternative killers: the one chosen in the final cut was probably the worst).

Halle Berry is GORGEOUS in this movie - I personally think this woman is getting more beautiful every year - but her acting is a bit forced, especially at her "big" moments. Bruce Willis has a couple of good scenes, but the rest of the time he pretty much sleepwalks through his role. Another problem is that both their characters are not very interesting, and yet another one is that there is no erotic heat between them, because Bruce is too old for Halle - although their age difference is only 11 years, he would even be more acceptable as her father than as her lover! In a supporting role, Giovani Ribisi is marginally more interesting than the two leads.

All in all, this movie is between a 4 and a 5 out of 10, mostly rental material.