Complete Strangers (2020) User Reviews

I just kept watching and honestly I don't regret it

[crisharu · 5/10 · 17 December 2020]

I don't really know why I decided to watch this film even though I knew the rating was very low. But anyway, I just finished it and felt an obligation to review it.

For the entire movie I just kept questioning everyone's motivation.

• Why is Robert letting Hugo treat him like this?
• Why isn't Kate doing more to help?
• Why doesn't Frank care?
• Why is Christian so desperate to get back together?

I had multiple reasons to just give up watching. The abuse and manipulation were bothering me so much. But what kept me from doing it was sheer curiosity: WHAT IS GOING ON HERE??

And then the last minute of the film OH THAT CHANGES THINGS (Almost) everything made sense. That last minute was like a perfect cherry on top of a very messy cake.

This could have been a very good film. I agree with other reviews, Pau Masó is not a good actor. Some help with the script would've been nice as well. No complaints about the directing, though.

Seductive & Mental

[akira-hideyo · 5/10 · 27 July 2021]

Dragged me on a half REM snooze frst till the last 10mins. Thought I was watching a TV reality therapy session on purging my inner perverted kinks. I enjoyed how it messed with my logical mind trying to understand the motivation and plot. The ending was a great twist and surprise. That added a bonus star. Acting chop for the lead, Robert, was a 4 star. Pace was way too slow. He seemed sedated throughout the whole movie. It's unnatural. Turbo charge that lag with urgency and it'd scored a well deserved 7-8 stars. Hugo's part on the other hand was well played as the hot, exciting and sexually engaging predator.

Skip this one for your own good

[JeanFlores-Dickens · 3/10 · 28 September 2021]

Pau Maso aka the leading, writer & director cannot act...that was painful, emotionless and just plain boring. The film should have been way shorter and also more thought out...It had potential but it was somehow lost. Some of the scenes were just a huge NO, _no chesmitry _boring sex _none acting

On the other hand Matthew Crawley was ok.

Thank you Matthew Crawley

[atconover · 2/10 · 14 July 2022]

This. Was. So. Bad. The main actor was hired for his hair. That is all he brought to the table. Matthew Crawley saved, carried and held the movie together. With spit and a prayer.

There is a moral here if you can find it.

[jromanbaker · 3/10 · 1 December 2020]

LGBT films have become very varied over time, just like any other genre of film. Romantic, frivolous, men and women coming out, however hard or easy, and thrillers with some having echoes of the great days of Film Noir. ' Complete Strangers ' seems to me to fall into the extreme Noir category and I imagined Barbara Stanwyck in this one with of course certain changes in the script. It could have worked but for me it didn't. The dialogue for a start needed a definite rewrite, and the acting from all of the cast well below average. Basically without giving away too many spoilers it revolves around a youngish man living in luxury in Budapest and like all good/bad characters out of Film Noir he has a past which he cannot recall. He walks through the beautiful streets and the less beautiful, but emptily rich apartments with a lost soul look on his face. Young and youngish men try to help him, but when he looks into mirrors or has dreams he sees himself as a sort of Jekyll and Hyde. He has terrible dreams and the viewer sees quite clearly that there must be a revelation. And of course there is in a moody forest/mountain setting and I will say no more about the plot. Personally I found it tiresome and long and I feel Pau Maso, the director should have chosen someone else for the lead role of the moody young man. Directors should in my opinion stick with directing and I can only think of Rainer Werner Fassbinder who succeeded in doing both. And the film is too long, lingering on certain scenes where it should have moved on. I mentioned the dialogue, which was inferior enough, and most of the cast delivered it as if they were on Valium. At times it is very moralistic about pornography, but the morality of that was undercut by painfully unerotic films. It certainly made homosexual acts to be decidedly unappealing and there is a moral in that if you can find it. The irony of all this is that it is filmed in Hungary, which is a very ' moral ' country, and this made me feel more disturbed than the twists and turns of the plot. I give it a 3 for the Negulesco concentration on fine shots of Budapest and mountainous forest scenes.

Appallingly Acted

[jose_dumass · 4/10 · 4 December 2021]

Regardless of strength of story, the lead actor is excruciatingly difficult to watch. He's flat and just not good. The pitch of his voice also had me itching to turn the movie off.

As for the story...eh? As others have mentioned, it has a really big twist at the end. Is the twist good enough to justify watching the movie? I guess if you're not paying for it and you can get past the poor performance of the lead. Then sure. Overall though, the story is weak, Hugo abusive, and the lead pathetic.

Awful waste of patience

[shanamaria · 1/10 · 17 December 2020]

Why was this even made? SInce my review is too short. I will ask again, Why was this even made?

This is awful

[volare12 · 1/10 · 5 March 2023]

Ok, disclaimer: I didn't make it past the first half hour or so of "Complete Strangers". That was all I could stomach, but even based just on that, I feel safe in saying this movie is really bad. Nonsensical dialogue, illogical scenes that have no setup or conclusion, terrible editing with no feel for storytelling, and woefully sub-par acting across the board. To be fair, the supporting actors at least seem to be trying to inject their roles with some real emotion despite the absurd non sequiturs they're saddled with having to say. The lead actor, however, is truly abysmal - completely flat and unengaging. And, he also wrote and directed this! Frankly it's a mystery to me how it ever got released. One star for the visuals and the music, which are of a quality far better than this film deserves. My advice: if you're a complete stranger to this movie, keep it that way.

Crawley steals the show

[hikeraz-20310 · 6/10 · 18 December 2020]

The movie does not deserve some of the bad ratings it is getting. Yes, some of the line delivery is a bit off and the script could have used a bit of a rework when it comes to the dialog, but overall this is a pretty good movie. The director should have stuck to directing and passed the lead off to another but Crawley did a hell of a job as his character. Disturbing, alluring, and disturbing again are thr best way to describe his character. Definitely worth a watch! IMHO

Complete waste of time

[ivoirinho · 2/10 · 22 January 2022]

I understand where the director is coming from but the story is messy, the acting is slow, the lead actor is painful to watch and even the twist(s) at the end won't save the whole thing.

2 for the beautiful images of Budapest and its countryside.

Sexual, Psychological Thriller

[mariovlee · 10/10 · 21 January 2021]

I loved this movie. I saw the director's other work, Aleksandr's Price, and loved it so I decided to check this out as well. It has a great plot. It starts off slow at the beginning but picks up steam as the title progresses. I love the fact that the title depicts the negatives associated with random hookups in a sexually stimulating manner. The main character really resonated with me. If you are looking for something sexual, fun, and engaging I recommend checking this title out.

Honest Review: Please Read (Spoiler Free)

[bajmba · 7/10 · 26 December 2020]

I have seen almost all movies made for the gay audience, from low budget to the well-produced better quality movies. If a movie has a good script and a message to convey, a lower budget can be overcome. For this movie, it appears to have been fairly well-made. The trailer looked appealing enough and we gave it a change. For the first half of the movie we can several moments where we had to suspend disbelief and just go along with the journey. Surprisingly enough, despite the flaws, we were entertained. And the second half of the movie even surprised us, making us glad we stayed with it to the end. Will it win any awards? Unlikely. But was it suspenseful and worth a watch? Absolutely. Just turn of the thinking or logical part of your mind for a bit and enjoy a thrilling ride.

Unsubstantial

[betty_buzzkill · 2/10 · 2 January 2021]

I found the characters to be lacking personality and the acting was dry and stiff (no pun intended).

Unrealistic outdated values and more

[pettinemichael · 1/10 · 29 April 2023]

The unrealistic script combined with over acting ,off track directing and mostly out dated traditional values makes this film nearly unbearable. Vomiting. Here. The protagonist over acts to a point that you wonder if he's actually acting. The value system pounded into the viewing audience reminds us of a time when multiple sex partners , porn and open relationship ms were criminal offenses! Honestly I believe with all the amazing scripts out there why gas this film been made! Someone knew the right people. That gas to be the only reason thus film made it to the screen. It's predictable, for the most part but rajes cheap shots at the LGBTQ life style. The only redeeming fact is that the protagonist grows a set of balls when you least expect it!

Boring

[faidonsavvas · 1/10 · 14 May 2021]

Just boring... and there is no such thing called "Acting"! The plot is hackneyed.

Really bad

[cammic · 2/10 · 27 April 2022]

What could have been a great movie was just really bad. The acting was so bad and the storyline just as bad. I find with gay movies they are generally cliched or over the top. Don't waste your time on this one.

Worst movie I have ever seen

[amtoft-2 · 1/10 · 18 February 2024]

This movie is so bad, that is actually turns into kind of comedy and I could not stop laughing, how bad everything is in this movie. I have seen acting and scripts much better in porn movies.

The good thing is now, if someone asks me, what movie is the worst I have ever seen, I know now the answer 😉 (I would never have known the answer before).

I have a feeling that the producer found the actors from the porn industry and thought, that he would make a proper movie.

I would not say I wasted my time watching the movie, and you should see it and make your own judgement. But you were warned hehe.

Horrifically bad

[jengrout-95364 · 1/10 · 9 April 2023]

This movie was so painful to watch. I hate dnf'ing anything but I almost didn't finish this. The script was horrible and the acting not much bettter. I can't even be bothered to remember the director/main character's name, he was so bad. He wore the same perpetually sad hangdog expression the entire movie. The creepily sick manipulative possessive a**hat of a boyfriend had no inflection is his voice, which made all the psychotic crap and "I love you's" he spewed painful to listen to. By the first morning of their cabin stay, I was ready to call it quits, but really wanted to see what the fuss about the last 10 minutes was all about, so only half paid attention.

Eh.

[Bill-i-am · 6/10 · 16 January 2023]

It's true that Paul Maso's acting is terrible, and that Crawley's is pretty convincing. Or maybe it's how good Crawley is that makes Maso's performance so bad.

I am not as impressed by the "surprise ending that explains everything" as others have apparently been. The surprise ending really explains nothing about Hugo's bizarre behavior throughout. If he's just a hired hitman, why does he toy with and torment Robert so? If the goal was to kill Robert, almost any approach to it would've been better. I realize the backstory is supposed to be mysterious, but it's completely opaque. And nothing in the story or backstory makes it believable that Robert is a budding murderer.

If Maso had sought additional acting talent to allow himself to focus his attention and energies into directing, this likely would've been a much stronger effort.

Best LGBT film of 2020 despite its flaws...

[Colton97 · 9/10 · 11 December 2020]

A couple of unkind reviewers claim this film is bad. I'm not really a review type guy but had to just for the sake of the film's quality. As an avid LGBT film fan, I've seen all the higher and lower end movies out there, from TLA originals to Here Tv, and so on... this one, despite its flaws, seems on the higher end. Complete Strangers is a really good thriller, with romantic vibes, that quickly turns dark. Without going too deep into the movie, I found the film to be very easy to watch and entertaining. The writing was good, the acting was fantastic, especially Matthew Crawley as Hugo, a new talent to watch. What really impressed me though, and this is not something common in lower-budget movies, was the sound quality as well as the image. Ronnie Minder's soundtrack is mind-blowing. The reason I give 9 stars and not 10 is because I felt Pau Masó should pick directing over acting, as it felt like there was too much on his plate. I personally really like him as an actor too, but movies are hard work, and one can't simply do everything. You gotta pick one! Other than that, amazing! Highly recommend!

I don't understand the ending of this movie!

[paseyler · 6/10 · 23 October 2022]

What the hell?? OK, so I stuck with this movie to the end and I just do not understand the very last scene . So much of this movie made me squirm . I was constantly thinking why on Earth would somebody go anywhere with this psycho of a man??! Can someone explain the ending of this movie to me? When Robert's ex-boyfriend Christian calls him in the car as he is leaving the secluded cabin after killing Hugo, he says "Hey Robert. Did you manage to kill him this time? I really need that trust fund money". I don't get it!!? Please explain this to me. This is going to drive me nuts if I don't figure it out!

Takes off in the latter half of the film

[rklein123 · 7/10 · 28 November 2022]

This was a pretty good psychological thriller. It might be tough to sit through parts of this film, where it becomes really tedious.

As others have pointed out, Masó might have done better to stick to directing, and turned the role of Robert over to someone else. The scripting for Robert gets a bit old quickly, but the acting just makes it even tougher to sit through.

Matthew Crawley, on the other hand, as Hugo, really shines. It's when Robert and Hugo get involved that the movie starts to get interesting. Prior to that, the background home decor was more interesting than Robert's story - or his whining..

The camera work is very good, sets and scenery are excellent, and the story itself has some interesting twists. The twists become especially interesting when Hugo is doing the twisting.

Stick it out to the end, because the last twist is the best.

Great scenario

[stevenderidder · 9/10 · 22 January 2021]

A film with a fantastic screenplay, structure and actors Congratulations and certainly deserves a film prize in its category

Of all the porn I did, you were the ....

[cekadah · 9/10 · 26 June 2021]

That is the beginning of a quote by Robert!

All I can suggest in watching this film is to - stick with it. Thirty minutes in you will wonder why you're watching it. Then the tension begins and at the last minute, the very final scene, everything you've been watching comes together and you will understand.

Director/writer/actor Pau Maso deserves a feather-in-his-hat for the mystery and suspense he creates in this story!

Great story line (spoiler free)

[nisargdave-20262 · 10/10 · 24 January 2021]

The story line is just amazing with constant thoughts of suspense and mystery. Acting of all the characters and cast is great. Pau masó is looking cute and someway hot too. Suspense point at the end of the movie just blew my mind. The message conveyed by the movie is for all the adults who somewhere does the mistakes in their life but there is always a second chance to make your life better after your bad experience and choices. Locations are beautiful...even homes and apartments were good... clothing style and last minute of the movie was like a cherry on a cake. Thanks to sir pau masó for this amazing movie. It was such a great experience.