The Perfect Neighbor (2005)

Let's forget for the moment that this an absurd chick flick with a preposterous plot. I might have given it a 4 or 5. But it is yet one more in the endless stream of mediocre movies shot in Canada and financed with Canadian tax breaks that is set in the United States. Why do we not have the GUTS to produce Canadian movies set in Canada????. This film was shot in Ottawa. Why was it not also SET there??? But no... The bad guy, make that bad girl, is from Kansas City. The victim's wife gets a job in New York City. Her husband goes off to a meeting in Chicago. The television station against which much of the inane plot revolves has American call letters. Cars have US license plates.(Not sure which state but they sure were not Ontario plates!)It is insulting, demeaning, cowardly, unpatriotic and stupid! I have no problem with American film companies coming up here and using Toronto as a stand in for Detroit. (That actually happened!) I don't even mind it when a Canadian film company does work for an American studio. But producing "Canadian" movies which keep their Canadian roots hidden puts us slightly below Botswana in the ranking of film producing nations. Is there any other nation on earth so cinematically gutless that it does this? I don't know how anyone involved, from the actors to the honey wagon driver, can take the least pride in their work. (Incidentally guys, you failed to conceal two dead giveaway Canadian clues. The words "Caribbean" and "schedule" are pronounced the Canadian way.)

I willingly collect all these "The Perfect ..." films and enjoy this type of movie .... perfect neighbour, perfect tenant, perfect wife, perfect nanny etc .. However I must admit that this is the first ( and hopefully the only of the series ) to be rather a let-down plot-wise. Basically the plot is too shallow and there is nowhere near enough nail-biting suspense ( compare with "The Perfect Wife" - you'll notice the difference ). I like the actor Perry King and am totally subdued by the gorgeous Susan Blakely but even these two could not save the film. As I said, the plot was badly constructed. Obviously this kind of film is fairly predictable as to the outcome - that is not a defect for me - but I like the plot to have some good surprises and suspense even if I know what the final outcome will be. In addition, the performance of Donna is not convincing. I have seen many films with beautiful but psychotic women but this one fails to convince. Additionally, when Donna is killed by Blakely with one pathetic gunshot that sounded like a kid's pôp-gun, I couldn't believe that was the end. Surely something more dramatic had to follow ? Alas not, and when I saw the end credits start to roll, I thought to myself "what a waste of a film", surely they could have come up with something better than this. Perry King, Susan Blakely and Tracy were great but what can great actors do without a sufficiently good plot ?

In Kansas City, the deranged middle-age Donna Germaine (Barbara Niven) stabs and kills her lover, when he calls off their relationship to stay with his wife. Donna uses an excuse to move to the house of her aunt, and she becomes obsessed in their neighbor, the executive William Costigan (Perry King). The sick Donna plots an evil scheme to take William from his wife Jeannie Costigan (Susan Bakely).This awful rip-off of "Fatal Attraction" is a simplistic and predictable festival of clichés, a typical broadcast TV flick. The flawed screenplay is absolutely silly, the grimaces of Barbara Niven are terrible, and the horrible accent and tune of voice of Perry King are laughable. This is the type of movie that the viewer knows exactly the next step of the script. This film is a pure waste of time and money, better off taking a nap instead. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "O Vizinho Perfeito" ("The Perfect Neighbor")

This picture opens up with a murder being committed and you see the killer and understand almost immediately why this person was permitted to have a very short life on earth. There was a great deal of hatred in the killers face and a real dark dark side, along with a tortured deep mental problem. Barbara Niven,(Donna Germaine),"The Drone Virus",'04, put her heart and soul into this role and showed what a great talent she has to offer Hollywood. Donna gets her complete mind, body and soul into getting a SOUL MATE for life and will do anything that will accomplish her goal. Human life is taken left and right through out the picture and everything is a perfect crime to go along with the Title of the film, " A Perfect Neighbor". Enjoy.