Perfect Stranger

In her latest career misstep since winning a well-deserved Oscar for Monster's Ball, Halle Berry stars as undercover journalist Rowena Price in filmmaker James Foley's muddled thriller Perfect Stranger. When a childhood friend is murdered shortly after implicating big-time advertising executive Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis) in a case of massive fraud, Rowena takes a temp job with Hill's firm in hopes of assembling evidence of foul play. Aided by her loyal, tech-savvy reporter friend Miles Haley (Giovanni Ribisi), Rowena uncovers more than she went looking for, and as a result finds herself in jeopardy. Thanks to an unnecessarily convoluted script by Todd Komarnicki and Foley's ham-fisted direction, Perfect Stranger generates far more confusion than suspense, and matters aren't helped by the fact that the film doesn't sport a single sympathetic character. What's more, Willis is wasted in a role that is very significant story-wise, but small in terms of his time onscreen. Unfortunately, that leaves way too much time for interplay between Berry and Ribisi, not to mention a nonsensical third act plot twist that seriously undermines the whole film. One or two more like this and poor Berry will be doing BAPS II. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include the 12-minute “making-of” featurette “Virtual Lives,” and trailers. Bottom line: a negligible extras package for a negligible thriller.] (E. Hulse)