Perfect Stranger is not so perfect

Undercover journalist Rowena Price (Halle Berry), who has had a traumatic childhood, is bent on probing the inner secrets of the powerful, and uncovering them.

 

She gets a powerful senator to reveal on tape, incriminating statements that has the potential to destroy his career. But when her editor refuses to publish it and asks her to take a long leave instead, Ro resigns in disgust.

 

As she storms out into the dark night, promising to expose all hell, the camera catches her from above, trying unsuccessfully to halt the fleeing cabs on a street painted with a gigantic 'Stop' warning.

 

Ro chances to meet up with her childhood friend, Grace, who is having an illicit affair with Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis), the CEO of a leading ad agency. Grace is about to blow the whistle on him. A week later, she is murdered. Ro makes it her agenda to track Hill's online movements, and expose him.

 

Following this promising start, an unconvincing, irritating sequence follows.

 

One moment, we see Ro looking up at the awesome building of Hill's ad empire. The next moment, she is inside it, working as a temp, cleaning his cabin... just after he's had a high-power meeting.

 

The CEO of one of the most powerful ad agencies is shown in his office, wasting time chatting with a female who claims to be blonde and sexy, but is actually Ro in online disguise.

 

The investigative journalist-turned-temp has overnight been allotted an open table space just outside the CEO's cabin. No questions asked. And guess what the clever girl does? She chats undercover... on the office machine.

 

The wealthy CEO who can afford to have a different girl in his bed at the stroke of every hour, sexcitedly chats with an online avatar. Is he that stupid?

 

He asks the undercover for her photograph and she panics because she doesn't have one, and hadn't thought that he would ask for one? And if it's 2007, why aren't they using voice chat with the cameras on?

 

Ro immediately phones up her associate on this investigation -- Miles Haley (Giovanni Ribisi),

a crack hacker, who searches his database of blonde females, and sends it across. Now, doors and windows have a history of not functioning at crucial moments; so, the director would have thought it perfectly fine to have poor Ro's PC hang while her fake blonde picture covers the entire screen.

 

To make matters more exciting, for some strange reason, the CEO chooses to open his cabin door at that very moment and head straight towards Ro to flirt with her. Standing behind Ro's PC, Hill flirts with her for what seems like eternity, while she attempts to switch off the power supply with her foot.

 

Later, the crack hacker is shown unsuccessfully trying to enter Hill's PC, which has a special firewall installed in it. To get past it, he gives Ro a small gadget and asks her to shove it up Hill's PC for around 10 minutes. As simple as that. So, Ro walks into the CEO's private cabin like she owns the empire, and does exactly that.

 

Well, what do you know, the guy walks in, just when Ro is bent in a strange position under his desk. She tells him she's there to leave a note that she has a crush on him. The CEO must indeed be a very brilliant person, for he believes her instantly, and invites her out for dinner.

 

Next thing you know, Hill and Ro are kissing at a party. The investigative journalist suddenly pulls out of the kiss to go to the loo, leaving behind her cell phone in the coat pocket.

 

It buzzes. Very conveniently, Hill digs his hand into the coat pocket, and opens the inbox, as though it's the most natural thing in the world to do. And what does he read? A message from Ro's associate, which reveals that Ro is undercover.

 

The film ends up as a cheap whodunit thriller.

 

At times, the lighting may seem rather odd, but perhaps, the psycho effect was intentional. Nice story, by Jon Bokenkamp, with a decent treatment; had the scriptwriter, Todd Komarnicki, and the director, James Foley, been less careless, they could have had a good film to their credit.

 

Manages to give out the message that everyone hides something, and nobody, including the ones closest to you, can be fully trusted.

 

Rediff Rating: