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Perfect Stranger
It's six years now since Halle Berry won the Academy Award for Monster's Ball. In that time she's played a Bond girl in Die Another Day, reprised the role of Storm in two X-Men sequels, made Gothika, Catwoman, and now Perfect Stranger. And that's it. Not much to show for an actress at her peak (probably - Berry turned 40 last year). In Perfect Stranger she looks gorgeous. She always does. But there is absolutely nothing in her performance that says hard-bitten news journalist to me - not even (in fact especially not) that 'newsboy' flat cap she wears when she's not undercover. The rest of her wardrobe is equally off. Sure, Rowena is supposed to be a prized asset to her newspaper, but those million dollar dresses she wears (even when she is undercover, as a temp), well, it's not my experience of the journalism racket. Berry is just the icing on an implausible cake, beginning with what script gurus call the 'instigating incident': Rowena is waylaid by an old girlfriend who wants her to threaten to do a story on her married ex-lover, who happens to run the most powerful advertising firm in New York. Uh-huh. Sounds like front-page news - except that nobody knows or cares about two-timing ad-men. When the girlfriend is murdered shortly afterwards, Rowena puts two and two together and decides Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis) must be the killer. To prove it, she enrolls in his office as a secretary, while her devoted researcher Miles (Giovanni Ribisi) sets about hacking into Hill's cyber profile. 
With his roving eye for the ladies, Hill soon sets his sights on Ro (or Katherine, as she calls herself at the office). At the same time he starts chatting up "Rocketgirl" online. But why are we being treated to traumatic flashbacks from Rowena's childhood? And why is Miles spying on her all the time? And what about the obsessively jealous wife - isn't she a suspect too? Revisiting the sexy psychological Jagged Edge-type thriller that was popular in the late 80s/early 90s and throwing in an oh-so-contemporary cyber hook, Perfect Stranger stands or falls on the intricacy of its plotting. And on that basis, it barely gets off the ground. The best director James Foley can do to generate any excitement is milk such tired old sequences as the heroine sneaking into her boss's office to download his PC. Or then there's the scene when she decides to let herself into someone's apartment just minutes before he shows up. 
It's not all a complete bust. Giovanni Ribisi makes the most of his lovesick computer geek - even if he does spend most of his time tapping on keyboards (never a very interesting occupation, movie-wise). And Bruce Willis turns in his customary consummate performance, gently stroking every note required of him and leaving you asking all the right questions. You can imagine why Halle Berry would sign up for this movie: it's a lead role, and the active protagonist at that. She's sexy, strong, independent, troubled, smart; and totally unconvincing. When the denouement comes - all I can say is, it's a groaner. Rumour has it they shot the movie with three different endings and three different killers; but if the filmmakers don't know whodunnit, why should the rest of us care? Tom Charity 
More information about Perfect Stranger » Critics' Reviews
A journalist gets in over her head chasing a possible serial-killer CEO in this paranoid thriller/corporate muckraking... read more on www.timeout.com Members' ReviewsReviews Voted Most HelpfulMost Recent Reviews |
Ben Kenigsberg, Time Out