Perfect Stranger
Directed by James Foley
By Brendan Willis

Perfect Stranger, starring Bruce Willis and Halle Berry, is perfectly awful. There are so many problems with this film that I can't hope to cover them all in a short review. Rowena Price (Halle Berry) is a reporter investigating advertising executive Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis) for the possible murder of her old friend Grace (Nicki Aycox). With the help of computer “hacker” Miles Haley (Giovanni Ribisi), Rowena goes undercover to expose Harrison Hill’s evil deeds. The first major issue Perfect Stranger faces is the appearance of computers in the film. I was under the impression that somewhere around the year 2003 Hollywood screenwriters realised that the general population had enough understanding of computer technology that they could no longer make computers do “magic”; apparently I was wrong. Almost every time a computer appears on screen, which is often, something idiotic happens. Miles is able to hack into any computer in a matter of seconds, manipulate any software to do as he wishes, even magically set-up Rowena’s instant messaging program to speak in Bruce Willis’s voice (in order to make the frequent, long “text-messaging” sequences more interesting to viewers). In addition to the unbelievable computer stupidity, there is never any evidence to support Rowena’s belief that Harrison Hill is guilty of murder. Which brings us to the “surprise twist” ending that makes no sense whatsoever. In the last five minutes the truth behind the entire story is revealed and there is no logical build-up to the conclusion. There is no Agatha Christie/Sherlock Holmes “did you notice the clues to the killer’s true identity” moment, this ending just comes right out of leftfield and hits you over the head with the stupid stick. The only “special feature” is a boring “making of” featurette that doesn’t in any way help explain how this terrible movie managed to get made. Remember how your mother always told you to stay away from strangers? Well, that goes double for Perfect Stranger. (Sony)
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Don't count on Norway's premier disco revivalist Hans-Peter Lindstrøm to ever turn in the same record twice. "All the artists and bands that I really like do surprising stuff every time, and I guess I just copy their way," he says from his Oslo home studio. "But it's also about not getting bored myself."... Read More
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