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movie review

Perfect Stranger

Halle Berry and Bruce Willis try online dating in laughable thriller

By Geoff Berkshire | Metromix
April 13, 2007

The makers of "Perfect Stranger" obviously spent a little too much time in the wrong chat rooms. Every character in this preposterous thriller about the perils of online dating is a complete creep.

Even the main character, crusading investigative journalist Rowena Price (Halle Berry), sleeps with her murdered friend's boyfriend (Gary Dourdan, "CSI") the night after identifying the body. Rowena and her friend and colleague Miles (Giovanni Ribisi, "Saving Private Ryan") believe that successful ad executive Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis) is responsible for the crime, so Rowena poses as a temp in order to uncover the truth about Hill.

A decade ago this could have been a kinky mystery à la "Basic Instinct," but there's more instant messaging than sex going on here. Who needs to go see a movie for that? And is it too much to ask that directors stop insisting that actors speak their messages out loud as they type them—who actually does that in real life?

It's just one of many ludicrous elements in "Perfect Stranger," which builds to a "surprise" twist ending that's already become a stale movie cliché.

Berry should know better. This is exactly the kind of forgettable trash she wasted too much of her talent on the '90s. And Willis practically sleepwalks through his role. Apparently he signed on just for the paycheck and the chance to make out with Berry (nice work if you can get it).

Bland visuals and a noticeably lackluster supporting cast only compound the movie's problems. "Perfect Stranger" isn't even worth a download.

Related topic galleries: Movies, Bruce Willis, Halle Berry

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