Film Reviews

Perfect Stranger

• Rating:
• Director: James Foley.
• Starring: Halle Berry, Giovanni Ribisi, Bruce Willis, Niki Aycox.
• Details: US / 109mins (16).

There's a scene in Throw Momma From The Train that I couldn't get out of my head during Perfect Stranger. Danny De Vito has written a story called Murder At My Friend Harry's and Billy Crystal tells him the story doesn't have any suspense. "Sure there is," De Vito replies, "The guy in the hat kills the other guy in the hat." That's how much suspense there is in Perfect Stranger. Sure, they dressed it up, gave us a few red herrings and slapped on a few surprise twists; but the end result stinks worse than Owen Lift's short stories. Investigative reporter Rowena (Berry) and sidekick Miles (Ribisi) strive to uncover the mystery behind the death of Rowena's friend Grace (Aycox) and all signs point to advertising tycoon and notorious womaniser Harrison Hill (Willis). Rowena lands a temp job in his agency to scope out some info but has her own secret that links her to the murder. You know a movie is in trouble when they use flashbacks of the first ten minutes in the first twenty, never mind the fact that three different endings were shot. The film is all elbows: it's awkward, it's unsure and it doesn't know what to do with itself. As it trundles on, it gets worse, then even worse, then laughable and finally annoying. The acting is terrible and the only one who seems to be trying at all is Ribisi, who is too talented for muck like this.

Review by Gavin Burke