How Far Would You Go To Keep A Secret?
Rowena Price is a muckraking reporter for a New York paper. When her story about a closeted gay Senator who preaches family values is spiked, she quits and soon finds herself investigating the grisly murder of a childhood friend. Her friend had been dumped by ad exec Harrison Hill, so he's Rowena's prime suspect. Rowena gets a job at the ad agency as a temp, and she's soon the object of Hill's attentions. She's helped in her subterfuge by Miles Haley, a friend at the paper who has a secret thing for her. Everyone, it seems, has secrets, including Hill, who must keep his affairs from his wife - her money fuels his lifestyle. Murder will out?
Genre(s): Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Runtime: 109 minutes
Rating: 5.4/10 (18,082 votes)
Release Date: 10 April 2007
Country: USA
Languages: English
Company: Revolution Studios
Sound: SDDS, Dolby Digital, DTS
MPAA: Rated R for sexual content, nudity, some disturbing violent images and language.
Director(s): James Foley
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Producer(s):
Ronald M. Bozman - executive producer (as Ron Bozman)
Stephen J. Eads - associate producer (as Stephen Eads)
Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas - producer
Stephanie Langhoff - co-producer
Charles Newirth - executive producer
Deborah Schindler - executive producer
Daniel A. Thomas - co-producer
Writer(s):
Todd Komarnicki - (screenplay)
Jon Bokenkamp - (story)
Cast:
Halle Berry - Rowena Price
Bruce Willis - Harrison Hill
Giovanni Ribisi - Miles Haley
Richard Portnow - Narron
Gary Dourdan - Cameron
Florencia Lozano - Lieutenant Tejada
Nicki Aycox - Grace
Kathleen Chalfant - Elizabeth Clayton
Gordon MacDonald - Senator Sachs
Daniella Van Graas - Josie
Music: Antonio Pinto
Ronald M. Bozman - executive producer (as Ron Bozman)
Stephen J. Eads - associate producer (as Stephen Eads)
Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas - producer
Stephanie Langhoff - co-producer
Charles Newirth - executive producer
Deborah Schindler - executive producer
Daniel A. Thomas - co-producer
Writer(s):
Todd Komarnicki - (screenplay)
Jon Bokenkamp - (story)
Cast:
Halle Berry - Rowena Price
Bruce Willis - Harrison Hill
Giovanni Ribisi - Miles Haley
Richard Portnow - Narron
Gary Dourdan - Cameron
Florencia Lozano - Lieutenant Tejada
Nicki Aycox - Grace
Kathleen Chalfant - Elizabeth Clayton
Gordon MacDonald - Senator Sachs
Daniella Van Graas - Josie
Music: Antonio Pinto
Posted on: November 2, 2008
July 23rd, 2008
The other reviews have pointed out the uneven story line that jerks theviewer around until its credibility is approximately in the same shapeas the first murder victim's body. So one's mind wonders. I had toreview to make sure I saw what I thought I saw.
The building in which much of the movie takes place is a New Yorkhi-rise. When Halle's character first reports for her undercover rolein Harrison's offices, a character at a counter in the lobby turnstoward the camera and walks to the right side of the frame.
It's Lucky Larry Silverstein, the man who purchased the lease on theWorld Trade Center in July 2001, invested a few million bucks of hisown in the purchase, slapped an insurance policy on the property toprotect against terrorism, and cleaned up to the tune of $4.5 Billion(and got his down payment back) when the events of 9/11 unfolded. Herebuilt Bldg 7 in very short order, and there it is in this movie.
The obvious controlled demolition of this building is one of thestrongest pieces of evidence of the fraud that is 9/11. Talk about acredibility problem!
September 4th, 2008
First off Bruce Willis is second billed here, which really didn'tbother me, Halle Berry gives a pretty strong performance in this movie.This is basically a whodunit kinda movie, there are lot's of twists,,and for most of you,, like me you won't see it coming,, we arepresented with numerous candidates as to who did it, you have theobvious, the not so obvious , the one that could be,, and then ofcourse the one you never suspect,, Bruce doesn't appear till well afterthe 20 min mark,, this isn't so much of an action movie,, which isfine, this movie has a decent plot, the kinda movie that makes youthink hard about stuff. For those of you that are computer literatethere is a lot of computer stuff in here, it's about being a stranger,,kinda anonymous, not knowing who you're really dealing with. i thoughtthat the movie was confusing,, but that's good when you're watching athriller,, overall i liked this movie very much.
November 2nd, 2008
There's nothing so detestable as a movie that is as improbable as it isstupid, and Perfect Stranger is one of those movies. If you enjoy beingtaken for a huge ride only to be cheated at the end then by all meansspend two hours with this film. If not, then move on to something elsebecause this stinker is based on so many improbable coincidences thatwould never, could ever, have happened that when you see the end youwill realize you've been made a chump of the first magnitude. Besidesall this, there was no chemistry between any of the actors nor did anyof them seem like anything more than actors reading their lines. Plusthere's the usual Hollywood bow to the gay crowd, needless sex, andenough pointless profanity to make this a film I can not in any wayrecommend.
November 2nd, 2008
Enough has been said by other reviewers about the acting, lack ofsuspense, and lame ending, so I'd like to concentrate on thenonsensical aspects of the story and the characters.
Rowena is tortured by nightmares about the sexual abuse she enduredfrom her father, yet she shows no indication of her mental anguish whenshe's awake, lives a productive and successful life, and apparentlydoes not seek professional help for her problems.
I would think that after suffering like that she would be wary, if notcompletely frightened of men, yet she wears skin-tight,cleavage-revealing clothing to attract men — any men — in a sexualway and seems to have suffered no long-lasting damage to her libido.
Miles has a job, but apparently doesn't work at it too hard becausehe's always available to hack into someone else's computer at the ringof a cell phone. He doesn't even have to know what kind of operatingsystem the victim is using because he apparently has this universalsoftware that can be used on any type computer on any type network.
He does some of his hacking from his office computer and his boss notonly condones it, but praises him for it. You would think the bosswould tell him to cut it out, for fear of liability issues, but nooooo.
Harrison Hill is a high-profile ad executive who has meetings withclients, attends advertising galas, and has something going withsomeone every night of the week, yet when he goes on trial for murderhe can't come up with an alibi or a single witness to prove he couldn'thave done it. You'd think with all his wife's money he could afford alawyer who could find someone — anyone — to testify on his behalf.
And I don't know about you, but if I found out that my friend had asecret shrine dedicated to me — and why must it be secret if it's inhis own apartment anyway? — with pictures taken without my knowledgeplastered all over the walls and my head stuck on a naked body as hisscreensaver, I think I'd be just a little too creeped-out to befriendly with that person for much longer and I certainly wouldn'tallow him back into my house.
As for the minor characters, minor is not the word to describe them.Rowena's boyfriend has no purpose to the story, Harrison's wife doesn'teven get a speaking line and is sort of creepy herself, and there wasno reason for Harrison's assistant to be a lesbian, unless theproducers thought that just using that word would bring in the youngmale audience. Anybdy named Esmeralda would call herself by a nickname,and I don't know how many offices you've worked in, but if someone wholooked and dressed like Rowena Price ever walked into any place I everworked, no other female would be her immediate best buddy.
The whole movie was stupid, the ending was indeed lame, the characterswere unbelievable, and with all the prominent product placements itlooked more like an infomercial than a serious drama; I kept waitingfor Ron Popeil to show up as a cop or cabdriver.
January 7th, 2009
Who knew Halle Berry and Bruce Willis had made a film together? Not me,until I spotted the DVD of this movie.
And it turned out to be a tolerable psychological thriller, with HalleBerry as a jaundiced investigative reporter on the trailer of powerfulexecutive Bruce Willis who looks as if he may have murdered Berry'schildhood friend. Or perhaps it was his wife….? With the help of herco-worker Giovanni Ribisi she sets about adopting false personalitiesin order to collect evidence.
And so it goes, unfurling in fairly typical psychological thriller modeuntil…
…well, let's be honest, it goes to pieces. It doesn't even try toplay fair with the audience and, as a result, any good work in thefirst 80% is completely destroyed.
The cast do the best they can, I suppose. Berry is nicely decorative.Ribisi is intense, odd, sometimes funny and sometimes worrying. Willisoozes charisma but never convinces. Gary Dourdan turns up in anon-role.
And a slap on the wrist for the screenwriter – if you're going to dothat, you have to put some sort of justification in beforehandotherwise you are simply going to alienate your audience – in this caseme. I'm so cross with you I'm not even going to look up your name toquote it here, which I would normally do. Go back to screenwriterschool.
January 18th, 2009
I saw this movie last night and I just LOVE it,I love the twists in themovie,I love the way movie ends,and just about everything about thismovie. And I came here and read all the negative reviews andcomments,and this is not the first time,and I can't help wondering,am ithe only person on the Earth who love all this movies,because I didn'tread any good comment…And when I read those negative comments I justdon't feel the same about the movie,so stop,keep negative comments foryourself,and is it really important that Halle Berry already filmedmovie similar to this in the past,does that make her badactor…No…She is great and you just can't judge her. That is all Iwanted to say,sorry for my bad English,I hope someone feels the way Ifeel,someone must love this movie. And please,if you don't like whatI'm saying here please don't leave bad comments,I just can't read itanymore,and I hope someday I will find good comments here for somemovie….