Perfect Stranger (film)

Infobox Film
name = Perfect Stranger
caption = Promotional movie poster for the film


director = James Foley
genre = Drama
rating = R
producer = Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas
Stephanie Langhoff
Daniel A. Thomas

writer = Todd Komarnicki
(screenplay)
Jon Bokenkamp
(story)
narrator =
starring = Halle Berry
Bruce Willis
Giovanni Ribisi
music = Antonio Pinto
cinematography = Anastas N. Michos
editing = Christopher Tellefsen
distributor = Columbia Pictures
Revolution Studios
released = April 13, 2007
dvd release = August 21, 2007
runtime = 109 minutes
country = USA
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/perfectstranger/
amg_id = 1:335655
imdb_id = 0457433

"Perfect Stranger" is a 2007 psychological thriller film starring Halle Berry and Bruce Willis. It is distributed by Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios.

ynopsis

Reporter Rowena Price (Halle Berry) meets an old friend, Grace Clayton (Nicki Aycox), who asks for her help in confronting businessman Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis) whom Grace had been having an extramarital affair with. When Grace is found dead days later Rowena begins a pursuit for justice with help from her friend Miles Haley (Giovanni Ribisi), but not everything is as it seems.

Plot summary

The film opens with reporter Rowena Price (Halle Berry) and researcher Miles Haley (Giovanni Ribisi) going after a conservative senator who has been having sexual encounters with his male interns. Rowena confronts the senator while recording audio evidence. The story is shut down, however, when the source clammed up shortly after and Rowena's editor put a stop to the story. Disgusted, Rowena quits her job. While walking home, she meets her childhood friend, Grace Clayton (Nicki Aycox), who seeks her help in taking down Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis), a wealthy businessman. Grace gives her emails as proof of their extramarital affair, which he recently ended.

A few days later, Grace is found dead, leading Rowena to suspect Harrison. With Miles' help, Rowena goes undercover as a temp at his company. She flirts with Harrison both online and in real life, but he catches her snooping and fires her, believing her to be a corporate spy. At Miles's apartment, Rowena discovers a shrine to herself and explicit pictures of Miles and Grace. He arrives home and they fall out. She goes to the police, with evidence she and Miles uncovered, who arrest Harrison for the murder of Grace.

After Harrison's conviction, Miles visits Rowena, explaining that he knows she is the real killer and has been using this investigation to frame Harrison. He wonders what Grace had on her. Rowena flashes back to a memory of her father attempting to molest her and her mother subsequently killing him. A younger Grace watches from her window as they bury his body. Miles describes in detail how she had plotted the murder and pinned the murder on Harrison Hill. Miles asks how she intends to keep him quiet, implying she might have sex with him, since he lusts for her and used to for Grace. However, Rowena stabs him and ransacks the kitchen. She then calls the police, claiming to have been attacked by Miles and that he might have been the real murderer. The film ends with a man looking out of a neighboring window, presumably having witnessed what really happened.

Cast

Reception

As of September 5, 2007 on Rotten Tomatoes, 10% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 135 reviews. [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/perfect_stranger/ Perfect Stranger - Rotten Tomatoes] . Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2007-09-05.] On Metacritic the film had an average score of 31 out of 100 based on 31 reviews, indicating "generally negative reviews." [ [http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/perfectstranger Perfect Stranger (2007): Reviews] . Metacritic. Retrieved 2007-09-05]

DVD release

Perfect Stranger was released on August 21, 2007 on DVD and Blu-ray.

Promotion

All the film clips feature actress Paula Miranda, which began on February 7, 2007; [ [http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=NEED2NO413 YouTube - NEED2NO413's Channel ] ] a user on YouTube began uploading mini-movie clips as a drama series. The characters of Grace [ [http://fastfilly413.blogspot.com/ blogspot.com/] ] , Josie the personal assistant, [ [http://samesame413.blogspot.com/ blogspot.com/] ] and Mrs. Hill [ [http://need2no413.blogspot.com/ blogspot.com/] ] all have blogs dating back to September or October 2006 with YouTube videos of the respective actresses, in character, speaking the text of the entry with minor changes. This is a relatively new form of viral marketing similar to an alternate reality game, and has convinced at least a few commentators that the blogs are real despite the fact that the film's official site is linked in the last entries of all three blogs.

References

External links

* [http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/perfectstranger/ "The official site"]
*imdb title|id=0457433|title=Perfect Stranger
*rotten-tomatoes|id=perfect_stranger|title=Perfect Stranger
*metacritic film|id=perfectstranger|title=Perfect Stranger
*mojo title|id=perfectstranger|title=Perfect Stranger
*amg movie|id=1:335655|title=Perfect Stranger
* [http://www.oregonherald.com/reviews/mark-sells/interviews/nicki_aycox.html Perfect Stranger - Interview with Nicki Aycox] The Oregon Herald
* [http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/lifestyle-features/id.771/title.halle-berry-the-perfect-stranger HipHopDX.com interviews Halle Berry about the movie]