By Lindsey Schibelhut, Staff Reporter.
This film directed by David M. Rosenthal was written by Alan B. McElroy and Tyger Williams and released on Sept. 11. “The Perfect Guy” stars Sanaa Lathan as Leah Vaughn, Michael Ealy as Carter Duncan and Morris Chestnut as David King.
Set in Los Angeles, Leah Vaughn is in a dead-end relationship with David King. Vaughn, 36, is feeling her time ticking away and feels the pressure to get married and have children; but David is resistant to commitment and refuses to jump into marriage or children right away. This causes a rift between them and – almost immediately – they break up.
Enter Carter Duncan a charismatic, IT specialist, who always knows the perfect lines to use on women. Duncan and Vaughn first meet at the the local coffee shop and after Vaughn’s break-up they run into each other again and then begin to start dating; but the honeymoon phase doesn’t last.
From there, things go downhill between Vaughn and Duncan. Duncan starts to exhibit strange and scary behavior, leading to the old adage of “If I can’t have you then nobody can.”
The middle to last part of the film is when it finally gets good, even for just a one time watch. Adding to the uniqueness of the film was the presence of law enforcement. This time the police were actually “helpful” to the main character, rather than not at all. One last thing I will give praise to is the acting done by Michael Ealy as Carter Duncan. The more Duncan’s behavior began to ratchet up, the more he was truly creeping me out. So Kudos to you Ealy, kudos.
If you suspend your expectation of belief, you may be able to sit back and enjoy this film. Some complaints I have are the beginning of the film was too fast paced. Vaughn and Duncan’s relationship goes from 0 to 60 in less than a millisecond and she doesn’t know enough about him yet. The filming and yes, a bit of the acting, made the movie seem as though it was made for the Lifetime channel rather than a theatrical release and you best believe there was some corny dialogue.
But, during the screening I went to, this film had the audience hooting, hollering, laughing and people saying “Go girl!” By the end of the movie the audience was giving a round of applause. So if you’re looking for a date night, campy, revenge thriller flick, “The Perfect Guy” might be your ticket.
