“Perfect Stranger”
I was watching “He Got Game” on cable last night. After a few minutes I was entranced into the relationship between father and son (Denzel Washington and Ray Allen as Jesus Shuttlesworth). The music was beautiful but not at all obvious. A conversation on a pier played in a continuous shot, we cut away for beautifully rugged images of Basketball legend Earl “the pearl” Monroe. And I said out loud, “I hate bad movies.” “He Got Game” is art. It’s intentions, and the place from which it was made, the heart, the soul, the need to create, is felt in every element of the film. Halle Berry’s “Perfect Stranger” is not art. It is a bad movie. In fact, horrible, terrible. Yet, despite my epiphany during “He Got Game,” I did not hate “Perfect Stranger.” Let us explore why and talk about the film a little.
Well, first off, I saw “Perfect Stranger” in Panama City. Therefore I was in Panama City, so I was in a good mood. Also, I saw the previews and the movie poster and so knew it would be horrible, but just felt like escaping the heat and hearing some English. And, with popcorn for $2 and a movie ticket for $3, I relished its horribleness. And let me tell you, it paid off in spades. A little bit of story. Halle Berry is incredibly beautiful as tabloid investigative journalist Rowena Price. Her friends, such as right hand man Miles Haley (Giovanni Ribisi), call her Ro. Miles does all the computer stuff including setting up the equipment for Ro to run espionage missions for stories and what not. We can kind of maybe guess he also is madly in love with her. But that’s for later. Ro writes under a male pseudonym and is always pissed off when she busts a corrupt politician or whatever but higher ups shut down her story. Of course we are in New York.
Then Grace shows up. Grace professes to be a friend, but Ro isn’t happy to see her. Grace is offering dirt on famous business tycoon Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis). She claims to have had an affair with him. He dumped her so she wants to expose him since he’s married and all. The trail is an internet thing. Online chatting. Ro oddly wants no part of it; in fact she just wants Grace to disappear. Why, we don’t know, but when Grace turns up dead, Ro gains interest and is quickly working undercover as a secretary for Harrison Hill. Not surprisingly Mr. Hill takes notice of Ro. Miles initiates her into the online chatting game and we are off and running. Is Harrison responsible for Grace’s murder? What’s up with Ro and her ex-boyfriend, Ro and Miles, Ro and Grace? Is it possible for this thing to be more over-edited? Is it possible for it to feel any emptier?
How the hell did Bruce Willis, Halle Berry, and Giovanni Ribisi end up in this film?
O.K., I have provided the set up. Already because of the silly execution of the plot, it's clear that this is a reasonably bad film. Then I will just add that there are about a dozen badly shot, edited, scored twists, culminating in another two or three laughable twists, until the final frame, which will send you out of the theatre rolling. And thus a bad film can still be an enjoyable time.
Story: F O wow, this is the mother of all convoluted plots.
Acting: C Ribisi is all-right until his character twist, but that’s not really his fault now is it.
Visuals: A Glossed up nope nauseatingly edited. C -
Originality/Innovation: F Devoid of.
Enjoyability Grade: F If in the right frame of mind C +, otherwise
Overall Grade: D +
You would think an Oscar win could get you better scripts than this, come on Ms. Berry.
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