Sound familiar? A successful woman gets caught up in the grasp of a seductive, powerful man, they fall in something like love, and then she sees that he is actually a violent jerk (like, kicking the butt of a stranger for looking too long and close at his car). They break up, but he won't let go, bringing her and her previous (and now again) boyfriend into his snarl of sneaky tactics.
If it does, it's because, well, this was really not that different than what one saw earlier this year with The Boy Next Door - another painfully generic title for a lame movie - only there it was a teenager in place of a successful-in-business sociopath, and here it's a little more white collar-world (think, in the log-line-comparison term for a studio, Boy Next Door meets 2009's Obsession).
In other words, it's trash. It's enjoyable to a point, Sanaa Lathan and Morris Chestnut are (or try to be) real actors with Tyger Williams' script, which seems cooked up from so many parts (or just a clone) of Lifetime movies-of-the-week, and yet there is Michael Ealy to shake things up. As a villain, this guy is almost as intense as Klaus Kinski, though mostly it's in the eyes and face. He may be the only one really making some kind of effort here, though whether that's on Rosenthal telling him to go 'bigger', or just his way of dealing with the limited range of the character, is hard to say.
How the filmmakers frame him most times is part of it - that is, when he's working out or glowering in his concrete home (he even has a cat that he pets, albeit not really his). The only thing in fact this has over Boy Next Door is the villain being SO over the top with how he reacts to things, how major the signs come - at first, yes, he may appear charming, and then with the flick of one scene at a gas station he turns into a killer out of every generic horror movie you've ever seen (this time with extra surveillance capabilities, so why not throw in a touch of The Gift in there while you're lifting movies).
This is basically in theaters to fill up the space that last year No Good Deed made, though that had the benefit of Idris Elba of all actors in the lead (a movie too good for him, yet made better by him). The Perfect Guy is slickly made but poorly produced, there to generate the most basic, shrill theatrics and thrills for audiences who don't really care for much dimension outside of telegraphed emotions and cheese. And yet, all this said, if one wants bad-movie-cheese, this is certainly a good/bad one to take in; perhaps it's better at home or on Netflix to throw some commentary while watching.
As I can attest being in a theater with rowdy, 'Into-it' people, it's not a movie that really begs for silent, contemplative interaction. This is a movie for the crowd that exclaims every other moment at something on the screen, worthy of it or not. Easy, ridiculous, boiler-plate bait for hungry fish.
If it does, it's because, well, this was really not that different than what one saw earlier this year with The Boy Next Door - another painfully generic title for a lame movie - only there it was a teenager in place of a successful-in-business sociopath, and here it's a little more white collar-world (think, in the log-line-comparison term for a studio, Boy Next Door meets 2009's Obsession).
In other words, it's trash. It's enjoyable to a point, Sanaa Lathan and Morris Chestnut are (or try to be) real actors with Tyger Williams' script, which seems cooked up from so many parts (or just a clone) of Lifetime movies-of-the-week, and yet there is Michael Ealy to shake things up. As a villain, this guy is almost as intense as Klaus Kinski, though mostly it's in the eyes and face. He may be the only one really making some kind of effort here, though whether that's on Rosenthal telling him to go 'bigger', or just his way of dealing with the limited range of the character, is hard to say.
How the filmmakers frame him most times is part of it - that is, when he's working out or glowering in his concrete home (he even has a cat that he pets, albeit not really his). The only thing in fact this has over Boy Next Door is the villain being SO over the top with how he reacts to things, how major the signs come - at first, yes, he may appear charming, and then with the flick of one scene at a gas station he turns into a killer out of every generic horror movie you've ever seen (this time with extra surveillance capabilities, so why not throw in a touch of The Gift in there while you're lifting movies).
This is basically in theaters to fill up the space that last year No Good Deed made, though that had the benefit of Idris Elba of all actors in the lead (a movie too good for him, yet made better by him). The Perfect Guy is slickly made but poorly produced, there to generate the most basic, shrill theatrics and thrills for audiences who don't really care for much dimension outside of telegraphed emotions and cheese. And yet, all this said, if one wants bad-movie-cheese, this is certainly a good/bad one to take in; perhaps it's better at home or on Netflix to throw some commentary while watching.
As I can attest being in a theater with rowdy, 'Into-it' people, it's not a movie that really begs for silent, contemplative interaction. This is a movie for the crowd that exclaims every other moment at something on the screen, worthy of it or not. Easy, ridiculous, boiler-plate bait for hungry fish.