Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

The Perfect Guy Blu-ray Movie Review

She thought he was the perfect guy...until he made her watch 'The Perfect Guy.'

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 22, 2015

Director David M. Rosenthal's (A Single Shot) The Perfect Guy exemplifies midrange big studio filler cinema. It's a standard nuts-and-bolts Thriller, as predictable as the sunrise, and never even hints at dramatic novelty or character development that expands on one-dimensional figures filled in just enough to tell the story. The movie is saved from total failure by slick production values and just enough acting to maintain interest in an otherwise tired, trite, repetitive, redundant movie that gives away everything in the trailer, and why not. Audiences can easily predict where it's going on premise and the first ten minutes alone.

Prepare to defend yourself.

Leah (Sanaa Lathan) has it all. She's works a great, high paying office job. She's got two loving parents (Charles S. Dutton, L. Scott Caldwell). And she's in love with an honest, upright man named Dave (Morris Chestnut). But he's perhaps a bit too honest. His family has a history of failed marriages and, as a result, he's afraid to commit. But Leah's biological clock is ticking. She's tired of dating and, even as she loves Dave very much, cuts off their relationship when it becomes apparent that he's not going to change his mind, even for the one he loves. Two months pass. Leah bumps into a man named Carter (Michael Ealy), a suave, handsome man who momentarily took her breath away at a chance meeting at a coffee shop some months earlier. They hit it off immediately. She's swept off her feet with his charms and brought to ecstasy in his arms. Her girlfriends love him, her parents adore him, and it seems like she's hit the boyfriend lottery. And then that happens.

One evening, Carter goes off on a man asking about his classic car. He beats him nearly to death with no provocation or warning. Leah is stunned. It's the total opposite of everything he's been to that point. She tries to break it off, but he persists and earns a second chance, a chance he ruins with a loud public outburst of angry emotions. He continues to stalk Leah, leaving her no choice but to contact the police and speak with Detective Renkin (John Getz), who is, at first, rather aloof and brushes off her claims. But the more Carter persists and the deeper Renkin digs, the more it appears that there's more to Carter than Leah had ever been led to believe. Now, she's faced with a smart, persistent foe who knows how to skirt the law and get under her skin, leaving her with no choice but to take her safety, and her future, into her own hands.

To merely say that creativity isn't one of The Perfect Guy's strong suits would be a gross understatement. The year's most derivative movie is built on a story and dialogue that would seem more fitting for a second-rate Romance novel in its first act and a cookie cutter Thriller in its second and third. The name is at least fitting, because Michael Ealy's character is the most generically chivalrous individual ever to grace a movie screen and, at the same time, the most generically unbalanced individual to ever grace a movie screen. The film never really explores his split personalities beyond some generic throwaway lines about his childhood, the kind of thing that's always the easy way out for what amounts to a Lifetime movie of the week story held up by slicker big studio production values.

Ealy is at least good at it. He's charming and smooth when necessary and dark and devious later on, but even his solid performance can't hide the fact that his character lacks even a smidgen of originality. In fact, the entire cast -- the primaries in particular but also the sadly underutilized Dutton and Caldwell -- is really quite good at selling the story hook, line, and sinker. Early on especially the cast does well to shape the characters and the general story arcs, and when it takes a turn for the darker they play it well enough to keep the movie afloat. Truly, their ability to sell cheese is really quite remarkable. Thanks to them, the movie enjoys brief spurts of success and watchability and, even, a basic likability. Audiences should just be prepared to go in with the expectations of watching a movie they've seen before and enjoying the escape rather than demanding something more creative than this film has to offer.

The Perfect Guy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Perfect Guy's 1080p transfer gets the job done, but the movie's frequent and overbearingly dark imagery never really gives it room to shine. Details are adequate, though there's not much in the way of finely intimate facial or clothing features. The images gets by more on high yield clarity and the 1080p definition than it does finely appointed textures. Colors frequently push lower-light warm, and the overwhelmingly dark filtering doesn't allow for much color palette brilliance. Black levels also tend to push towards crush, light banding hangs across a few backgrounds, and a decent number of softer and smearier shots appear throughout. The movie's heavy noir styling doesn't allow for a razzle-dazzle colorful image, but what's here is fine in a general context. It's just nothing to be overly excited for.

The Perfect Guy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

On the other hand, The Perfect Guy's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is stellar and the unequivocal highlight of this release. The movie begins with a superb musical presentation that finds impeccable detailing and extraordinary full-stage balance for total envelopment, yielding a perfect cinema-quality sound moment. Such precision follows throughout the film. Music is always a highlight, whether score or more aggressive and bass dominant dance beats heard in chapter three. Atmospheric effects are stellar throughout and fully convincing. Background bar/restaurant chatter and clatter heard in chapter two are amazingly rich and completely lifelike. High heel footfalls echo effortlessly around the stage in chapter six as a character walks through a practically empty parking garage. A gunshot in chapter five, and more near film's end, hit very hard and approach a more lifelike heft than those heard in many action-oriented movies. A car crash in chapter 12 spills through the entire stage, sending twisting metal, crashing debris, and other details into the listing area with practically frightening realism. Dialogue delivery is smooth and accurate with a consistent center placement, rounding out one of the most surprisingly rich and exciting soundtracks of the year.

The Perfect Guy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Aside from the standard Sony previews collage, The Perfect Guy contains only one extra. Lust and Obsession: Making 'The Perfect Guy' (1080p, 10:18) looks at what it takes to craft a good Thriller, character details, performances, the film's noir-inspired look, fight choreography, and more. A UV digital copy code is included with purchase.

The Perfect Guy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Perfect Guy seems so unconfident about its wares that it chose to peddle ample cleavage on its posters and advertisements (which, for whatever reason, seems to have been dialed back for the home video cover) in what must have been a desperate act to draw audiences to a movie they've seen dozens of times before, just with a different title and different actors pulling off the same actions. The movie is to be commended for its craftsmanship; Rosenthal's film is slick and put together with an obvious level of skill and know-how, and his primary actors do a fine job of elevating the characters above the trite, throwaway script. It's not worth a spot on the must-see list, but interested parties can go in knowing that it's at least an accomplished piece of technical work, even as the story is totally derivative. Sony's Blu-ray release of The Perfect Guy yields fair video, outstanding audio, and, unsurprisingly, only one brief extra. Worth a rental if nothing else looks better.