Verführung einer Fremden (2007)

Verführung einer Fremden: Directed by James Foley. With Halle Berry, Bruce Willis, Giovanni Ribisi, Richard Portnow. A journalist goes undercover to ferret out businessman Harrison Hill as her childhood friend’s killer. Posing as one of his temps, she enters into a game of online cat-and-mouse.

“Before seeing u0026quot;Perfect Strangeru0026quot;, I was hoping for another hidden gem like u0026quot;Twistedu0026quot; (2004), which was also a murder mystery with a female lead and other big names in the cast and also got bad reviews; sadly, this film isnu0026#39;t it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film starts off poorly – itu0026#39;s a whodunit, but the victim is a character who appears in just one scene before getting bumped off, so we donu0026#39;t have enough time to like or even hate (as it usually happens in, say, the Agatha Christie mysteries) her; so itu0026#39;s harder to find a reason to care who killed her. The film improves somewhat in the middle, with a couple of tense scenes (like the one in the car with Willis suspecting Berry of being a spy, or Berryu0026#39;s entrance into Ribisiu0026#39;s u0026quot;secret roomu0026quot;), and a few interesting (if brief) views of the net-chatting world. But then the ending comes, and itu0026#39;s a cheat – the perfect planning required for it is simply too far-fetched (IMDB trivia says they filmed three alternative endings with three alternative killers: the one chosen in the final cut was probably the worst).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHalle Berry is GORGEOUS in this movie – I personally think this woman is getting more beautiful every year – but her acting is a bit forced, especially at her u0026quot;bigu0026quot; moments. Bruce Willis has a couple of good scenes, but the rest of the time he pretty much sleepwalks through his role. Another problem is that both their characters are not very interesting, and yet another one is that there is no erotic heat between them, because Bruce is too old for Halle – although their age difference is only 11 years, he would even be more acceptable as her father than as her lover! In a supporting role, Giovani Ribisi is marginally more interesting than the two leads.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAll in all, this movie is between a 4 and a 5 out of 10, mostly rental material.”