Movie Review
Perfect Stranger
Posted by Brian C. Gibson (brian@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 13, 2007
Director James Foley has built quite a pattern in his career. Going from directing a hit, Glengarry Glen Ross, to directing a bomb like Fear. Then he directed another hit, Confidence, just to follow it up with another bomb…
When a journalist (Halle Berry) is confronted by a childhood friend for help, she thinks nothing of it. But when her friend turns up dead, she decides to go after the man she thinks is responsible. Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis) is a business man who has alot to lose, and was the last man to be involved with the recently deceased.
Well, I know I’m going to end up in some heat for this one. Halle Berry cannot act. She is extraordinarily beautiful, and I have even been witness to her beauty in person. However, her looks couldn’t save this one. The only thing that came even close to saving this film were the performances from Bruce Willis and Giovanni Ribisi. Even saying that, that’s not saying alot about the film. Both Willis and Ribisi’s characters were incredibly cliche and didn’t do much to help progress the story. It just felt like a series of recycled scenes from other movies that weren’t that great either.
The plot was dense and uninteresting. This is yet another piece of the Hollywood machine. The machine that takes bad writing, and tries to mix it with a solid director and some super celebrity power. The only problem is that people actually pay to see movies like this, and will continue to pay for movies like this. The only saving grace would have been a flashy ending. Some might say that this film had a great ending, a cliff-hanger. I would say that it was just smoke and mirrors to hide the film for what it really was, garbage or Gothika 2.
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8 Comments
April 14th, 2007 at 1:18 am
Ok, so Fear did suck serious ass… But to say that Halle Berry can’t act, that is going too far Brian. Halle is a hell of an actress. This film did not do much to help her, but she was good. I think you need to go see it again, maybe you were caught up in a daze the last time. Maybe there was too much beauty (myself and Halle Berry included) in the room last time.
April 14th, 2007 at 1:22 am
Or maybe you have never seen Swordfish, Gothika, Die Another Day, any of the X-men films, Bulworth, BAPS, or even god forbid Catwoman. She did win an Oscar, but so did Cher and Russell Crowe.
April 14th, 2007 at 1:25 am
… and don’t forget 3 6 Mafia.
I would like to whole-heartedly defend Swordfish, Bulworth and X-Men. Those were great roles. Halle was the star of those films…
And she’s from Cleveland. How can you knock a hometown girl?
April 14th, 2007 at 1:26 am
Catwoman? As a man with a penis, how can you diss Catwoman? Is there something that you’d like to tell us about yourself, Brian?
April 14th, 2007 at 1:27 am
That I’m glad that my erection was in the way so I didn’t have to watch that movie? Yeah, I thought you should know that.
April 14th, 2007 at 1:31 am
That’s enough children… You are missing the point. Halle Berry is a good actor, this movie is bad, but she can perform.
We can’t say as much for Brian’s libido…
April 14th, 2007 at 3:29 am
Man, this movie is total crap. Bruce Willis didn’t even move an eyebrow and Giovani Ribisi was like… imported from another film.
Halle Berry was sensational though. I think… because you know, my erection was in the way also!
April 15th, 2007 at 3:57 am
To Brian’s comment (#2): Cher won an Oscar for Moonstruck, which is a surprisingly really well acted movie. A strange style, yes, but very well executed.