Perfect Strangers

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Perfect Strangers

PG-13

2003

1h 36m

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

29%

Tomatometer

7 Reviews

29%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

Melanie (Rachael Blake), an attractive single girl, is out on the town with her girlfriends when she meets a good-looking and intriguing man (Sam Neill) who takes an immediate interest in her. She agrees to leave with him and accompanies him to his boat, which takes off for the remote island on which he lives. Slowly realizing she has been kidnapped, Melanie struggles to maintain her composure as she interacts with her captor -- to whom she still feels a strange, reluctant attraction.

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Tom Horgen

Minneapolis Star Tribune

It's a movie that fails so miserably in its weirdo aspirations that you'll wish you were watching that bad '80s sitcom of the same name (with Balkie, remember?).

Rated: 1.5/4

Jun 10, 2004

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...infuriating...

Rated: 1.5/4

Jan 1, 2005

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Chris Hewitt

St. Paul Pioneer Press

When horror heroines are this lame-brained, my impulse is to start rooting against them.

Rated: 2/4

Jun 10, 2004

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Jon Popick

Planet S Magazine

A cross between Cast Away and Swept Away, carefully flitting between the quality and pretentiousness of them both as it constantly reinvents itself.

Rated: 5/10

Apr 9, 2004

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Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

Preston's screenplay is ingenious, drawing on British classics like Cul-de-Sac and The Servant to constantly undermine audience expectations.

Rated: 3.5/5

Nov 9, 2003

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Erik Childress

eFilmCritic.com

Even David Lynch would watch this and yell out "what the crap!"

Rated: 1.5/4

Oct 3, 2003

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Marta C

Too stunned to sound lucid.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

05/08/23

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Audience Member

This film is a reminder that really bad movies don't die but hopefully fade away. This stinker if ludicrously full of holes, unlikely events, unexplained twists, and idiotic descents into madness from isolation that make the soccer ball in Hank's Cast Away feel like Citizen Kane. As it drags on it gets worse and worse falling into endless resolutions each more aggravating than the next.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

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Audience Member

clicked the wrong movie

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

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Audience Member

A quite frankly confused film from New Zealand, that never seems sure of its identity as it splutters from from one genre to the next. Starting off as a psychological thriller before morphing into a twist romance. Its not without its merits, though most of these must fall at the feet of Sam Neill who never fails to turn in a decent performance regardless of the material.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

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Audience Member

Pretty naff and strange, implausible scenarios.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

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Audience Member

It was alright. Some good romance and suspense mixed within.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Gaylene Preston

Director

Sam Neill

The Man

Rachael Blake

Melanie

Joel Tobeck

Bill

Robyn Malcolm

Aileen

Madeleine Sami

Andrea

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Synopsis

Melanie (Rachael Blake), an attractive single girl, is out on the town with her girlfriends when she meets a good-looking and intriguing man (Sam Neill) who takes an immediate interest in her. She agrees to leave with him and accompanies him to his boat, which takes off for the remote island on which he lives. Slowly realizing she has been kidnapped, Melanie struggles to maintain her composure as she interacts with her captor -- to whom she still feels a strange, reluctant attraction.

Director: Gaylene Preston
Producer: Robin Laing
Screenwriter: Duncan Preston
Production Co: Gaylene Preston Productions, Huntaway Films
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): May 2, 2021
Runtime: 1h 36m
Sound Mix: Surround

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