2008 Woodie Awards
'Perfect Stranger' reviewed
Not nearly perfect
by James Adams Smith
Issue date: 4/17/07 Section: Mosaic
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Columbia Pictures
Rating: 2 stars (out of 4)
In "Perfect Stranger," a conventional narrative with an emulous subplot loses track of its own progress and in turn collapses, leaving the audience with a far-from-perfect sequence of events.
What should have been a 30-minute episode of CSI is drawn out for two hours, with little to occupy the bridge from beginning to end.
Halle Berry is Rowena, an ethically-challenged journalist who has quit her job after being denied publication of an opinionated article about a Mark Foley, right-wing stereotype. In her immoderate tantrum, she randomly crosses paths with an old friend Grace (Nicki Aycox). Grace tells Rowena that Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis), a respected corporate executive who met her through an online dating site, seduced her then severed contact with her and resumed his married life.
Rowena becomes interested in cracking down on Harrison Hill, especially after Grace's mysterious death.
With the aid of her former co-worker, Miles (Giovanni Ribisi), she gets a temp job at Harrison's office and begins to entice him in order to obtain the evidence needed to convict him of her friend's murder. She also begins to seduce Harrison through dirty talk on a dating Web site as an anonymous sex-figure.
Haunted by childhood abuse, Rowena is struggling to make up for it with an investigative report, just as Halle Berry is struggling to make up for her mistake of starring in "Catwoman."
Because of the illogical turns in plot, she seems to be a different character every 20 minutes in the film, losing any believability in her role and any empathy for her choices. Bruce Willis' acting is not bad, but his dialogue is inconsistent with the overall plot.
Ribisi maintains his role better than the others and keeps it consistent with the plot, but wasn't given enough artistic freedom to bring the character to life.
Another fatal flaw is the poor editing that resulted in a discombobulated surprise ending with similarities to "The Black Dahlia," where you must recalculate every scene in the film only to find many of the questions are unanswered. Therefore, you are cheated and expected to comprehend something extremely intricate that stirs little interest from the get-go.
With the decent amount of press "Perfect Stranger" had, the movie itself doesn't amount to much. "Perfect Stranger" lacks balance, is inconsistent and builds the framework for something its creators couldn't support.
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