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Perfect Stranger

When talking to a screen, how can one tell who is on the other side? "Perfect Stranger" is a mesh of changing personalities through the potentially dangerous world of the chat room. This is a less than perfect movie, however. The twisted plot is convoluted and heavy-handed, as well as unbelievable. In the end, the audience is not so much asking “who done it?” as “why do we care?”

Rowena Price (Halle Berry) is a journalist that has just gotten the story of her life. The only problem is someone else got to her source and now she can’t print it. A childhood friend hands Price the story of cheating ad executive Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis) a man that she struck up an online relationship with. Her friend dies horribly a week after telling Price about Hill. Before she can be out scooped again, Price teams up with her tech coworker Miles (Giovanni Ribisi) to find the murderer. The top suspect is Hill and as they infiltrate his work, they find more and more information on his seemingly obvious guilt.

Most thrillers must have a good build up that leads to a heart pounding denouement. This movie fails at both. The film felt like it needed a ‘duh duh duh!’ to its soundtrack as its awkward surprises built up. The twist ending also negates the rest of the movie in a way, as the killer seems to spend the movie blatantly displaying guilt. This thriller is not thrilling enough to make up for its plodding plot. The movie is thoroughly forgettable as it tries to bank on the creepiness of its characters, a difficult task to allure an audience with, even if this is supposed to be a psychological thriller. Berry and Willis are strong leads, but this doesn’t make up for the fact that they aren’t given much to work with, which causes them to seem flat and boring. Just like a cyber relationship, this movie is as false and unsatisfying.

Written by: Marguerite Spellman

Reviewers Rating: 2
Reader's Rating: 7.50
Reader's Votes: 2

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