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Perfect Stranger

Perfect Stranger may not seem like the perfect bad movie to wallow in, but do not be fooled by this seemingly simple film. Starring Halle Berry, Bruce Willis, and Giovanni Ribisi, Perfect Stranger is all about an investigative reporter going undercover to nab a seemingly evil executive who may have had a hand in her best friend’s death. Not so crazy yet, right? Frankly, for the majority of this poorly received film from director James Foley, it’s all just bad. It’s not funny bad, it’s just bad, with the exception of Ribisi, whose performance as Berry’s techie buddy is obviously so campy and over-the-top that he didn’t care about anything except his paycheck. And then comes the ending, where…well, I’ll end this paragraph with a big old spoiler alert, to warn those interested few of you away. You’re warned!

It turns out that Berry constructed the entire plot to get back at her friend, who’d seen Berry’s father get killed years ago by Berry’s mother. The entire movie is a labyrinthine, overly convoluted plot from Berry to clear her family’s good name from….nothing (since the murder of the father happened decades ago, and no one was investigating it; oh, did I not mention that the climax of the film is the first time we hear of this?). She pins things on Willis and Ribisi, but what about that neighbor across the street who apparently saw the entire thing….And on and on it goes. Perfect Stranger is one of the silliest, most overwrought thrillers of recent memory, and it’s obvious that Berry and Ribisi are either having too much fun to take it seriously, or they don’t realize how awful they are. Willis…well, he’s in it for the paycheck. You should check it out for the laughs.

The Happening

If you’ve been to the movies in the past few weeks, you’ve likely seen ads for one of the big summer movies, The Last Airbender, based on a popular animated series from Nickelodeon. The film, as is mentioned many times in the trailer, is written, produced, and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. A decade ago, that name would guarantee plenty of audience members; now, I wonder if Paramount is just tempting fate. Shyamalan is the same man who was behind Lady in the Water, The Village, and the final choice for this list: The Happening. This is a movie with an interesting concept (what would happen if people just started killing themselves for no apparent reason?), but has terrible execution. What’s more, the lead of the film is Mark Wahlberg, and his earnest, quizzical nature works well in some movies. This is not one of them, especially when he’s meant to be the voice of reason, but is too busy running away from the wind.

Yes, the wind is what’s behind all the death in this movie, but what makes the movie so flat, so dumb, and so unintentionally funny is the trademark of most of Shymalan’s films: dead seriousness. There’s a point where you have to deflate any situation with humor, tense or otherwise. Sometimes, the movie needs a Han Solo, someone to poke fun at what’s going on. M. Night Shyamalan doesn’t do that here or in any of his films. There is, granted, one improvement on this truly hilarious bad movie, but it’s a small pittance: Shyamalan doesn’t appear onscreen. He’s not the best actor, but in Lady in the Water, he plays a character whose writing is so important, that it will save the world. Sound familiar? Shyamalan’s last three films are all terrible, but with Wahlberg at the helm, there’s something charmingly giddy to enjoy in this piece of trash.

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