Critical response On review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes,
Perfect Stranger holds an approval rating of 9% based on 141 reviews, with an average rating of 3.5/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Despite the presence of Halle Berry and Bruce Willis,
Perfect Stranger is too convoluted to work, and features a twist ending that's irritating and superfluous. It's a techno-thriller without thrills." On
Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 31 out of 100 based on 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.
Peter Travers of
Rolling Stone said, "Foley fights a losing battle with
Perfect Stranger, a dull, dumb and unforgivably dated thriller, free of thrills and any kind of perfection, save a genius for product placement" ... "it's a techno thriller that treats the already cliché topic of Web abuse with an idiotic sense of discovery." Brendan Willis of
Exclaim! was critical of the twist ending, writing, "In the last five minutes the truth behind the entire story is revealed and there is no logical build-up to the conclusion. There is no
Agatha Christie/
Sherlock Holmes "did you notice the clues to the killer’s true identity?" moment, this ending just comes right out of left field and hits you over the head with the stupid stick." W. Andrew Powell of
TheGATE.ca wrote, "Legendary movies are made by their endings. Even the stalest film on the planet can turn itself around, at least to some extent, with a snappy ending that either flips you on your ass, or explains the films events in a way that makes perfect, startling sense.
Perfect Stranger certainly has a snappy ending, but only after plodding along for almost an hour and a half before turning the audience on its ass with a surprise ending that feels like we’ve somehow been cheated out of a fulfilling resolution. Give me a surprise ending any day, but don’t cheat me with an ending that doesn’t make any sense." == References ==