The Perfect Guy Parent Guide

At thirty-six years old, Leah Vaughn (Sanaa Lathan) wants to get married and have a family. Unfortunately her boyfriend Dave King (Morris Chestnut) isn’t ready to make such a commitment, even though they have been dating for two years. With her biological clock ticking too loudly to ignore, the career woman breaks off their relationship in hopes a better opption might come along.

And a couple of months later, he does! Carter Duncan (Michael Ealy) is just as gentlemanly as he is handsome. Not only is he looking for “the one”, but the two also have great chemistry between them. In fact the attraction is so strong that their second date quickly moves from sensual dancing at a pub to sneaking into a quiet closet to satisfy their aroused desires. (We see lots of cleavage, necking, fondling and undressing, as well as hear sexual sounds.)

Things are moving along so well that Leah hardly even pause to wonder if it’s too good to be true until they stop to buy gas on the way home from meeting her parents. While waiting in his classic muscle car as Carter pays the bill, a stranger leans in through the window to tell Leah how much he admires her ride. Suddenly a jealous or over-protective Carter grabs the man from behind, throws him to the ground and begins hitting and kicking him. Horrified, Leah begs her companion to stop. Yet the beating doesn’t cease until the shop owner threatens Carter with a gun.

The incident is a game changer for the frightened woman, who determines to end their affair. Carter counters by sending apologies through phone calls, texts and flowers. Leah however continues to rebuff his attempts at reconciliation—and that’s when Mr. Right really goes wrong.

In most ways The Perfect Guy is the usual stalker story. Playing on female vulnerability, the plot places Leah in several situations where she is all alone, has her living in a glass home so she is easy to spy on, and shows Carter the secret location of her spare house key. He is physically fit (we see his muscly bare chest on several occasions) and has computer expertise so he’s able to hack her personal devices. He even uses hidden cameras to record video of her in bed with her former beau (Dave is straddling Leah and she is groaning), which he then forwards to all the people on her e-mail address list. Despite reporting these security concerns and invasions of privacy to the police, Detective Hansen (Holt McCallany) tells her there is not enough evidence to arrest Carter. The script does depart from the typical damsel-in-distress tale though when motives of self-defense give way to yearnings for revenge.

Shuffled between numerous depictions of peril and some on-screen murders (with disturbing sound effects and bloody injuries shown) are scenes of scantily dressed women, steamy shower silhouettes and make-out moments. Although these inclusions may be intended to placate any male audience members dragged along as dates, this sexual content as well as a robust helping of profanities and a strong sexual expletive, certainly won’t make this thriller the perfect movie for most family viewers.

About author

Donna Gustafson

Donna Gustafson has been involved with her husband Rod's work since the beginning. Handling many of the behind-the-scenes tasks, she also creates preview pages for up-coming movies, acts as managing editor and occasionally writes reviews.