A Perfect Fit
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C+
Adrian Greiner (Cecil B. Demented, Hart’s War,
The Devil Wears Prada) has been a recognizable character actor for
years, but he really surprises as the none too well John in writer/director Ron
Brown’s A Perfect Fit (2005) as he keeps having fantasies of murdering
women and feeling betrayed by them.
What is in his past that is haunting him? Was he ever well? Is he
so mentally unstable that he will act out (or act out again) the act of murder? Will his new girlfriend (Leila Arcieri) be
the next victim?
After meeting awkwardly in a series of bad blind dating
Sarah (Arcieri) has been engaging in, they become interested in each other and
John becomes obsessed by her and the possibilities of the relationship “making
him well (again?)” because they could love each other and live happily ever
after. Instead of this being romantic
on his part, it is about the possibilities of happiness and freedom, though he
becomes increasingly inappropriate about this when visiting her parents.
Instead of doing the clichéd things most bad or
inexperienced actors would do, Greiner is sly about the craziness of the
behavior. It is never showy, has
surprisingly good judgments on his part about how far to go and when it comes
to sexuality, is always about outrageousness without being about an
infantilized sense of sex as in most films where the director and actor cannot
separate the difference from “dry hump” dancing and XXX junk form real life. As a result, this always feels real and is a
mature work and Greiner shows he is a better actor than many may have
thought. The only problem comes in the
script not going far enough and ending without really resolving other issues. Still, it works better than most of its
contemporaries because it takes mental illness and treats it as such instead of
as an excuse to do another degrading, idiotic murder film.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image has some edge
enhancement that does not help the decent cinematography by Learnan Kahanov,
which always has a pleasant sense of place, even when the situation turns ugly,
which is counter to the clichéd approach of gutting out the color and making
everything darker and rougher than it usually would be. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has no
surrounds, but dialogue is recorded well for an independent release, while
Michael Montes’ score fits well. Extras
include text bios, original theatrical trailer, stills and a brief making of
featurette.
- Nicholas Sheffo
