Several middle aged friends meet up, partners included, at the apartment of one of them in order to jointly watch a lunar eclipse over dinner & wine. They’ve known each other since childhood and managed to make their partners feel like they are part of the group; they are so close they hold no secrets from one another. Or do they?
One of the wives, an under-appreciated therapist, suggests they all put their phones on the table. Everything these black boxes receive that night will be there for all to see. The friends go ahead with this; for the result of their joint exercise, please refer to the movie title.
For a film that’s all about dialog at an apartment’s living room, Perfect Strangers is, well, almost perfect. Sure, the case presented in the movie does seem a bit on the extreme side of contrived (I assume being Italian is part and parcel of the plot), but regardless - if ever one needed a reminder that “nothing to hide, nothing to fear” is a meaningless phrase because we all have something to hide, Perfect Strangers offers fine proof through an excellent sample of movie making. Who would have thought a movie demonstrating just how much of us is stored on the black boxes we carry in our back pockets would come out of Italy of all places?
Best scene: The ending, with the members of our group departing, is so brilliant! Not that I can tell you what happens, but it makes a very valid statement about our approach to the bliss of ignorance.
Overall: 4 out of 5 crabs.
