← Back to Reviews
in
#235 - The Perfect Host
Nick Tomnay, 2010
A bank robber who has been injured and mugged following his most recent job decides to hide by bluffing his way into a rich man's home but the tables are turned when the rich man is not what he seems.
It's probably not a good sign for a movie that its biggest draw involves not just spoiling a major reveal of its plot, but that that major reveal ties in with stunt-casting the film's most well-known actor. David Hyde Pierce is best-known for playing the incredibly fastidious upper-class psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on hit sitcom Frasier, and it is those same qualities that translate into his role here as Warwick, a man who is planning a dinner party at his expensive Los Angeles home around the same time than John (Clayne Crawford), a rather foolish small-time crook on the run after a big score, convinces Warwick to let him into his house and stay there. While John is initially in control, things take a strange turn when Warwick reveals that he is actually an incredibly deranged individual who plans on keeping John hostage throughout his "dinner party" (where all the guests are figments of his imagination). What follows is an unoriginal yet not entirely boring psychological thriller that is carried by Pierce, even though he doesn't do much other than play Niles but with a dangerously delusional edge, which does ultimately come across as gimmicky despite Pierce's ability.
The production values aren't much to speak of and none of the actors manage to match Pierce - Crawford in particular doesn't have the acting chops to make for much of a protagonist (especially when he spends much of his time acting against Pierce), who is constantly short-sighted and messing things up yet we're supposed to believe he's an amazing chess player at one especially convenient point. The plot is so thin that it ends up throwing in a left-field twist around the hour mark and, despite subverting my expectations, still ended up making the last third of the film feel like a major drag compared to the relatively suspenseful middle half-hour of the film. While it is somewhat fun to see Pierce gleefully subvert his most famous role in a recognisable yet twisted context, the novelty wears off very quickly against the background of such a dull excuse for a thriller.
Nick Tomnay, 2010
A bank robber who has been injured and mugged following his most recent job decides to hide by bluffing his way into a rich man's home but the tables are turned when the rich man is not what he seems.
It's probably not a good sign for a movie that its biggest draw involves not just spoiling a major reveal of its plot, but that that major reveal ties in with stunt-casting the film's most well-known actor. David Hyde Pierce is best-known for playing the incredibly fastidious upper-class psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on hit sitcom Frasier, and it is those same qualities that translate into his role here as Warwick, a man who is planning a dinner party at his expensive Los Angeles home around the same time than John (Clayne Crawford), a rather foolish small-time crook on the run after a big score, convinces Warwick to let him into his house and stay there. While John is initially in control, things take a strange turn when Warwick reveals that he is actually an incredibly deranged individual who plans on keeping John hostage throughout his "dinner party" (where all the guests are figments of his imagination). What follows is an unoriginal yet not entirely boring psychological thriller that is carried by Pierce, even though he doesn't do much other than play Niles but with a dangerously delusional edge, which does ultimately come across as gimmicky despite Pierce's ability.
The production values aren't much to speak of and none of the actors manage to match Pierce - Crawford in particular doesn't have the acting chops to make for much of a protagonist (especially when he spends much of his time acting against Pierce), who is constantly short-sighted and messing things up yet we're supposed to believe he's an amazing chess player at one especially convenient point. The plot is so thin that it ends up throwing in a left-field twist around the hour mark and, despite subverting my expectations, still ended up making the last third of the film feel like a major drag compared to the relatively suspenseful middle half-hour of the film. While it is somewhat fun to see Pierce gleefully subvert his most famous role in a recognisable yet twisted context, the novelty wears off very quickly against the background of such a dull excuse for a thriller.