The Perfect Host

Viewed at the Festival de Film, Cannes 2010

To spoil or not to spoil, that is the question. NOT spoil! The summary tells you all you need to know and anything else would be a revelation and defeat the object. Basically, David Hyde Pierce plays his Frasier character Nils as coming from the dark side. He's whacked out all right, but only slowly do we discover just how whacked and out he is!

The Perfect Host is not a horror film, although it's easy to see how it could have been made as one, but a psychological, cat and mouse thriller of tables (dining tables?) turning and being turned as small time hood meets major lunatic!

Given the vast majority of the film takes place in one setting, the film does come over as a bit staged at times, but that also adds another dimension because staging itself plays a big part. After all, Warwick Wilson (David Hyde Pierce's character) is staging the perfect dinner party and is not about to let some uncultivated intruder spoil things.

And then come the twists...

The Perfect Host is a little film that slips under the radar, but if you enjoy good thrillers, want a different take on the home invasion genre, just enjoy watching David Hyde Pierce (and he is most watchable) being creepy, then it's well worth a look.

David Hyde Pierce will forever known as Niles Crane--Frasier Crane's brother. However, in this post-"Frasier" film, Pierce appears to be screaming LOUDLY that he is NOT Niles! No, the character from this film is very, very, very far removed from his cute comedic persona from TV.

The film begins with a desperate criminal (Clayne Crawford) running from the police. He was involved in some sort of robbery and was injured in the process. And, naturally, he's looking to find some place to hide. He tries a couple times and finally convinces a guy (Pierce) to allow him into his home. Crawford lies and convinces Pierce that he's harmless and the viewer can't help but worry about poor Pierce's safety. My advice...DON'T worry about Pierce...he's more than capable of taking care of himself. I'd say more, but it would spoil the amazing twist that takes place. My advice....hold on to your hats! This is one of the strangest movies I've seen in some time. In some ways, it's a very, very, very dark comedy. But, mostly, it's a terrifying film--one that is very original and quite strange...and quite savage. Regardless, it's an acting tour de force by both Pierce and Crawford and it's amazingly well written and clever. See this film. It's not perfect but it's pretty cool and memorable nonetheless.

I stumbled upon the 2010 movie "The Perfect Host" by random luck, and seeing that the movie had David Hyde Pierce on the cast list, then I decided to watch it right away.

And I am very happy that I opted to sit down and watch "The Perfect Host" without ever having heard about it, because this movie was really, really entertaining.

The storyline told in "The Perfect Host", as written by Nick Tomnay and Krishna Jones was just one that was interesting and entertaining right from the very start, and as the movie progressed it just kept on getting more and more interesting and fun to watch.

And not only did the movie have a really good storyline, but it also had some very lovely characters, with lots of personalities and details. It was really good how well fleshed out these characters were on the screen. And despite of the relatively small cast, then the writers really did manage to make the two main characters very outstanding and memorable.

David Hyde Pierce (playing Warwick) and Clayne Crawford (playing Jonh) really carried the movie phenomenally well with their performances in the movie. It was simply amazing how well they did individually and together in the movie. I was definitely having expectations to seeing David Hyde Pierce in the movie, as I loved him back in the "Frasier" days, and he really shows that he is a gifted and versatile actor with this movie.

Oddly how I never picked up on this movie before now in 2021, 11 years after the movie was released. And as it turned out, then I had really been missing out on a great movie.

I was thoroughly entertained by director Nick Tomnay's 2010 movie, and this is certainly a movie that I can and will warmly recommend you sit down to watch, should you find yourself with the opportunity to do so.

My rating of "The Perfect Host" lands on a seven out of ten stars.

There were surprises the entire way through and I was so pleasantly surprised by this "sleeper" that I am recommending it to all of my friends. I thought I knew what to expect, but I kept getting surprised. It was comedy, even some romance, suspense, drama, crime, all rolled into one. I absolutely loved it. It was nothing like I expected. Some very fine acting all the way around and such an exceptional combining of actors. I didn't think it would work, but it was near perfection. It is one of the cult type movies you will watch more than once.

David Hyde Pierce was perfect for his part and Nathaniel Parker gave some good balance in it. I was shocked at the ending, but I loved it still.

Perfect Host, The (2010)

*** (out of 4)

Two-bit criminal John Taylor (Clayne Crawford) pulls off a bank robbery but soon his name and picture are all over the news so he must find a place to hide for the night. He thinks he finds the perfect victim when he gets into the house of Warwick Wilson (David Hyde Pierce) but the robber soon realizes he's not the most dangerous person at this party. That's pretty much all the story anyone needs to know because there are so many twists and turns throughout the 93-minutes that knowing anything more would really take away many of the shocks. I must admit that I went into this movie not really knowing what to expect and when the end credits came up I immediately wanted to start telling people that this is a movie they should certainly check out. I think it's clear that the movie wants to be another THE USUAL SUSPECTS because there is just one twist after another and the movie does a terrific job making the viewer feel off their guard because you never quite know where the film is going and once you figure it out it just takes another turn to throw you. I thought what really made the film special is that the direction by Nick Tomnay just keeps the twists and turns coming at almost a poetic rate because there's a certain beauty to how everything plays out and it's really as if you're seeing some tango take place in front of your eyes. Everything is so well laid out in his screenplay that you really do feel as if you're watching something special take place even though there are a few flaws that I'll get to in a bit. Another major plus for me is that the film starts off with Crawford as the bad guy and Pierce as the good guy but throughout the movie they trade places and yet you can enjoy both characters. I enjoyed that we've got a film with only two characters and you can hate and like them and usually both within the matter of minutes. Crawford is extremely good in the more laid back role of the criminal and I thought he did a very good job with the role and especially when it was time for the events that happens to his character (again, I won't spoil them here). The real stand out is clearly David Hyde Pierce who is simply wonderful in the role. His character does so many odd things but Pierce makes you believe everything you're seeing and the amount of charm, charisma and personality that he brings to the film really makes this character his very own. While watching the performance it becomes clear that he's the only person in the world who could have played it. The film builds up some nice suspense throughout and I really enjoyed the rather unnerving way all the secrets get revealed. Horror fans will enjoy some of the black humor, which includes a hilarious piece involving the Gil Man from CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. The film's major flaw is that there are a few too many twists and turns in the final ten minutes. With that said, THE PERFECT HOST is sadly going to get overlooked with all the blockbusters out there but hopefully people will give the film a chance as it's certainly a good little gem.