The Perfect Guy has romance, suspense, violence and drama and none of it is any good – at all.
Leah (Sanaa Lathan) is unhappy in her relationship with her boyfriend Dave (Morris Chestnut), he refuses to commit to getting married and starting a family, so she breaks up with him. Two months later, she ends up meeting the charming Carter (Michael Ealy), he’s the quintessential “perfect guy”. They quickly grow close, he easily and speedily works his way into the hearts of her friends as well as her parents.
On their way home from a trip to San Francisco to meet her parents, a random stranger innocently talks to Leah about Carter’s Dodge Challenger at a gas station. Carter’s intense and surprising jealousy kicks in and he viciously attacks the man right in front of a mortified Leah. Obviously mortified by what she has seen, Leah decides to break up with Carter that night. Well guess what. Carter doesn’t take this well at all and Mr. Perfect immediately turns into Phsyco Sid. He just so happens to also be an expert in IT and makes great use of his skills to stalk Leah. It’s also at about this point where Dave makes his way back into Leah’s life.
If all of that sounds kind of familiar, that;s because it should. The movie feels like its been put together from recycled pieces from so many other cliche thrillers. The acting is mediocre and with a talented lead like Lathan you have to put some blame on the material the actors had to work with. Although as easily as Ealy switches from nice guy to manic psycho, making use of his piercing eyes to steal the attention with Leah and also to come across as a truly chilling bad guy. Sadly his performance is also flat and monotonous. As for the rest of the cast, they merely serve as a backdrop to Lathan and Ealy’s characters and are mostly forgettable.
Director David M. Rosenthal really dropped the ball on this one. The movies pacing is frantic and all over the place. He runs through the movie so fast, it feels like you simply rushed through the first half of the movie so we can get to the exciting part – but we never get there. There any substance put into the romantic aspect of the movie, so you don’t build any emotional connection with the main characters. As for the suspense. You see it coming, so that makes it, well not that suspenseful, it’s just too easy to telegraph whats coming.
That being said there are plenty of people who will want to watch this movie and some that will even really enjoy it. My wife is one of them. As for the rest of you, just don’t do it to yourself.
Bonus Feature:
- Lust And Obsession: Making The Perfect Guy
The Perfect Guy is available on DVD now.
Last Updated: February 9, 2016
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