Perfect Stranger

Unlike many of the reviewers on here, I quite liked the main body of the film. I love murder mysteries, suspense, whodunits, so it's always nice when a big budget mystery comes out.

TV mysteries are always the best, Agatha Christie penned mysteries are definitely the best, you are given clues, taken up blind alleys, but if you're smart, you can work out the puzzle. The problem with Perfect Stranger, is that the ending feels like it was tagged on because nobody was smart enough to come up with an intelligent, logical conclusion, that actually made sense. I felt robbed by the twist, the whole conclusion made absolutely no sense. The closing twenty minutes almost made me feel like I'd switched channels, which is a shame, because the build up was really smart, I enjoyed the tension, I liked the way the story was going, the eye pictures, drops etc, it was clever, then we get the rug pulled from underneath our feet.

Halle Berry did a great job, Bruce Willis was also very good, in a very different role for him. Disheartening, but with the likes of Gone Girl and Girl on a Train the genre is still alive.

Watchable, 6/10

"Perfect Stranger" is quite thrilling but the finale simply absurd, moronic. It doesn't lack thrills and pshycology, being it a phsycological thriller. Played intensely, with moments of entertainment not delicious but decent though, everything's spoiled by the foolish and outrageous ending - the mystery resolution is too convoluted. It looks like a pre-packedged thriller, "homogenized" I'd say, with much part of it taking place in chats. Bruce Willis and Halle Berry have acted much better in past, but are watchable regardless, as well as Giovanni Ribisi; suspense thriller is made bearable but eventually degenerates..

In New York, the investigative reporter Rowena Price sees her scoop about a gay senator spiked by her editor. She quits her job in the newspaper and meets with her childhood friend Grace by chance in the subway. Grace tells Ro that she had just been dumped by the powerful and wealthy owner of the greatest New Yorker advertising agency, Harrison Hill, and she was threatening to tell his wife about their affair. When Grace is found dead, Harrison becomes Rowena's prime suspect. With the support of her hacker friend and former colleague Miles Haley, Ro is hired for a temporary work in Harrison's agency to get close to the executive and investigate his life.

I was looking forward to this film, although critics panned it. I heard that there was a twist ending in this film and you know this gets me excited. What if it was like "Dead Silence"? The movie was bad with a good twist ending? Actually, the answer was vice versa: The movie was good with a great twist ending.

Sure, some maybe call if ridiculous and preposterous but when you're being entertained, who cares? This is a stylish techno-thriller and there are some suspenseful moments. The twists and turns work for me and so does the performances.

Maybe it's another forgettable thriller, yeah. Maybe it's a preposterous, A-list cast, overwrought thriller, yes. But maybe it's an entertaining, stylish thriller which will keep your attention until the satisfying twist ending.

I've read all the negative comments and I'm starting to think someone who hates Halle Berry has created multiple accounts. I hadn't intended on seeing it, I just felt like going to the movies this afternoon. The movie I wanted to see didn't start until later so I said 'what the heck, I'll give it a try'. This movie was a pleasant surprise for me.

I called it noir-ish because that's the feeling I got from it. And I have to say that sitting in the theater I thought, 'Gee, it's nice to see a movie with two real live movies stars in it.' You get all kinds of weird combinations these days with stars and starlets and rap artists that it's no wonder that most movies are awful.

In this case you have a story about a woman played by Halle Berry who is an investigative reporter for a major newspaper. She has a great story that her paper decides to not use. In anger, she quits, and at the same time a maybe even more important story, involving an advertising giant played by Bruce Willis, falls in her lap. So the movie is about her trying to get to the bottom of this story along with the help of her friend/colleague, played by Giovanni Ribisi. Now I'm purposely not including any spoilers because I personally like to know as little as possible going into a film.

I think a good number of people who like movies like The Usual Suspects or Lucky Number Slevin will like something like this. Now where I think we can really tell is if you also saw and didn't hate the Black Dahlia. A lot of people didn't like it. I loved it. But being very specific there were people who didn't like it because they felt the ending was too quick and that there was no way you could have figured it out with the information at hand until the movie explained it for you at the end. I disagree but those people may have a problem with this. Anyone who wants to figure mysteries out before the end and doesn't want to go along for the ride may have the age old complaint of "how are we supposed to figure it out if they only told you (insert important plot point) at the end?" I'm not one of those people. I like to go along for the ride. That being said, I do think there is enough info that if you really want to guess at the ending you could do it.

The acting was great. I'm not that big on Halle Berry but she did the best job I've seen her do in a while. Bruce is becoming someone I definitely trust with my money. And, imo, it's Giovanni Ribisi who stole the show here. He's getting better all the time.

This movie is for adults, not that it's too much for a teenager to handle. I just don't really think it's something your average teen would be interested in. And it's an R for a couple of reasons. So I'm going to recommend it for older mystery and/or noir fans who don't mind not being able to figure out the ending.

PERFECT STRANGER is a fast-paced little crime mystery of a film that despite the innumerable sidebars of undeveloped information scattered throughout the script does manage to surprise the audience at the end. The movie seems to be a vehicle for the beautiful Halle Berry to show off her skills and other assets: Bruce Willis is billed as a co-star but his role is minor and unexpectedly underplayed - a nice little tour de force for the king of action flicks.

Berry plays a reporter with a man's nom de plume that allows her to uncover secrets of famous people for newsy stories. Once fired from her job for uncovering the deeds of a Senator who is promoted by her newspaper, she teams her good buddy Giovanni Ribisi, a wizard of information about the media and internet spying, and the two go after a wealthy ad executive (Bruce Willis) when the murder of one of Berry's old girlfriends stirs both her wrath and her own secret demons. The chase is on with Berry playing games of deceit backed by the skills of Ribisi. And just when the plot seems to have uncovered the murderer, then another line of story involving Ribisi and Berry explodes the audience's tracking of the crime with a rather good ending.

Berry is fine in her role as is Ribisi with his: Willis is not on the screen long enough to form an opinion, a fact that is actually rather a refreshing twist! The camera loves Berry in all her glamour and manages to turn sordid when the plot elements necessitate that. It is a fair evening's diversion and were it not for all the 'dropped ideas' that plead development, it would be a stronger thriller. Grady Harp