1.5/4  Perfect Stranger
Perfect Stranger is a poor excuse for a suspense film. It starts off bad and doesn't get any better. The horrid Direction and Screenplay are laughable and the "acting" is what it is. Halle Berry is OK in the lead and Bruce Willis is incred... (read full)

3/4  Perfect Stranger
I couldn't decide whether to give this a two-star or a three-star review (out of four stars). In some ways, I found it trying too hard to be something that simply isn't or it shouldn't be, but at times I found myself admiring its earnestne... (read full)

2/4  Perfect? I dun know...
Bruce Willis trys to one-up his movie the Sixth Sense, but fails.

This movie follows the same type of plot, except it does it worse. They somewhat drop you right into the storyline, making it hard in the first 1/2 hour to figure out the... (read full)

2/4  Perfect Stranger Quick Review
A pretty cut-and-dry thriller that saves the best twist for last, but can't save an otherwise by-the-books film. Everything about the film is perfectly adequate, but there's not a lot that stands out.

5/5 love it
  by David A. Smith (Webberville, Mi, USA)
This is a terrific movie. Halle Berry & Bruce Willis are awesome in this movie. i recomend it to everyone

1/5 america's critic
  by David R. Lingard (memphis tn)
ahh ooohh!!! boo!!! so boring i napped during it got this one for $5 and still felt robbed a class actors in a remake that sucks---- i got it sit on ur hand and thats the perfect stranger!!!!

1/5 Hack this movie
  by K. Hughes (Milwaukee, WI)
Is hacking computers really this easy?

In Perfect Strangers, Giovanni Ribisi can hack employee files from a high powered New York advertising agency with ease, and manipulate AOL accounts with about three strokes of his keyboard. So I guess that's why he has enough time to build a kinky photo shrine to Halle Berry in a secret back closet in his lime green apartment.

Which sounds fun. But this movie takes itself too seriously.

***SPOILERS***

Basically, Halle Berry's character is a b!tch. She's an investigative reporter. And uses her colleague (Ribisi) as her pu$$y whipped intelligence expert. He's (not so secretly) in love/lust with her. Which creates some decent tension. He's believable. And Berry exploits his obsession. She's quite the domme, ordering him to hack files and fetch coroner's reports. But every time he fulfills her demands, she gets irritated and plays a mind game, mentally beating him into submission (which he seems to get off on.)

The plot...

really doesn't matter. Halle goes undercover as a temp at Bruce Willis' ad agency. One of her duties is stuffing pink gift bags for a Victoria's Secret event. She's really sloppy, getting the bags and delicate tissue paper on top all wrinkled. And thank goodness the office gossip is helping her. This colleague gives Berry a rundown on the entire office, including who the boss (Willis) has been sleeping with. For an esteemed investigative reporter, Berry seems to get all her info handed to her on a silver platter.

Not that any of this starts to add up to anything.

***THE REAL SPOILERS***

Much later in the movie, thru flashbacks, you learn that Berry was molested by her father (or possibly stepfather), a white man. Her black mother finds out, and kills the man with a fireplace poker. Berry and her mother bury him in their backyard. And Berry's friend witnesses it from her window.

Near the beginning of the movie, the friend, who has grown up to be a trashy Melanie Griffith prostitute/drug addict/swinger type, tells Berry she's been sleeping with the married Willis. And that he's a kinky SOB. Then the friend is found murdered.

So the movie is all about finding out who killed the friend.

Is it:

WILLIS (motive: didn't want his wife to know about affair)
WILLIS' WIFE (motive: jealousy)
RIBISI (had secret s/m sex with the victim)
BERRY'S BLACK BOYFRIEND (had impregnated the victim three months earlier)

But no. HALLE BERRY DID IT!

Why?

Because she was afraid the friend would tell everyone about Berry and her mom burying the father in the backyard.

This all could have been a fun plot. But the movie doesn't take it far enough. And it denies us scenes. With all the build up between Berry and Willis, they should have had a sex scene together. A playing out of the father/daughter dom/sub thing. They hinted that Willis, the powerful businessman, liked to be dominated in the bedroom.

In one of her flashback/dreams, from the child Berry's point of view, she imagines her molesting father to be Willis. They really could have played this up. Her subtext could have been that she sees Willis (and all men) as molesters. Which is why it was easy for her to set up the innocent Willis for the murder rap. And why it was easy for her to stab and kill Ribisi at the end when he discovered Berry was the murderer.

There's also a tall, severely beautiful woman who plays Willis' assistant. I kept mistaking her for Milla Jovovich. Her character is a lesbian. Her primary function is to make sure Willis doesn't have affairs with women in the office. So you'd expect a great catty scene with her and Berry. But it never happens.

Oh, and there's a scene where Willis picks up Berry to take her to work. And remember, he thinks she's just a temp. But her apartment building looks like the Waldorf Astoria. But it didn't raise any red flags for the shrewd Willis. Weird, huh?

I would definitely watch a sequel. A lower budget, direct-to-video production. But who would replace Berry? Tyra Banks? Vivica Fox? Or better yet, a no-name actress with a lot of spunk. And a director with no shame.




5/5 Surprise
  by M. Mason (Chi-Town)
I was very surprised that I really enjoyed this movie, don't ask why, I just was, anyway it was very good, definitely one for the movie volt, to be watched over and over again

4/5 A good thriller, but one that takes time to develop and get into!
  by Dr. Metal
This isen't a run of the mill type of thriller. But it may be difficult to like while viewing it for the first time because there are many relevant things in the plot that are not shown in the proper time sequence. By that I mean that there are essential plot developments missing that take place very early in the childhood of Rowan (Halle Berry). That is the missing link to the whole story which only becomes apparent at the very end, when Rowan's journalist partner Miles talks about them and other important event that happened later. For that reason most of the movie has this strange feeling to it that the viewers will probably feel that they are missing something. But it all becomes clear in the end, in a very drastic and suspensful way. It is at the end when we are finally told why certain things happened, and why people acted the way they did.
Like I wrote the movie may seem and is rather slow in its development towards explaining what is really going on, but you just have to stay with it until the end to find out what it is all about.

What really surprised me was the end to this movie, and also the many negative reviews that this DVD got. I can't agree with those that claim that this is a bad or boring movie in anyway. I think its rather an unusual thriller, that takes a bit of time to get into, but today's audiences are so caught up and weaned to quick action TV series that they apparently can't appreciate a good thriller anymore, even if it means staying focused on it until the end.
This is a good thriller, and especially one that just seems to get even better when seeing it again for the 2nd or even 3rd time.