The Perfect Host

Name: The Perfect Host
Genre: Thriller
Released: July 1, 2011
Rating: 48
Cast: Clayne Crawford, David Hyde Pierce, Nathaniel Parker

2011

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Ratings

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6.7

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6.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Ratings

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The Perfect Host

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Movie Details & Credits

Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: July 1, 2011 | R

Starring: Clayne Crawford, David Hyde Pierce, Nathaniel Parker

Summary: Warwick Wilson is the consummate host. He carefully prepares for a dinner party, the table impeccably set and the duck perfectly timed for 8:30 p.m. John Taylor is a career criminal. He’s just robbed a bank and needs to get off the streets. He finds himself on Warwick’s doorstep posing as a friend of a friend, new to Los Angeles, who’s beenWarwick Wilson is the consummate host. He carefully prepares for a dinner party, the table impeccably set and the duck perfectly timed for 8:30 p.m. John Taylor is a career criminal. He’s just robbed a bank and needs to get off the streets. He finds himself on Warwick’s doorstep posing as a friend of a friend, new to Los Angeles, who’s been mugged and lost his luggage. As the wine flows and the evening progresses, we become deeply intertwined in the lives of these two men and discover just how deceiving appearances can be. With outstanding performances by David Hyde Pierce and Clayne Crawford, cowriter/director Nick Tomnay takes us on a suspense-filled ride where nothing is as it seems. The Perfect Host is a slippery psychological thriller that exposes true human nature and reveals just how far we’re willing to go to satisfy our needs. (Magnolia Pictures)… Expand

Director: Nick Tomnay

Genre(s): Thriller

Rating: R

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Critic Reviews

Justin Lowe

Jun 26, 2011

Tomnay skillfully shifts the film's initial tone from suspense to dark comedy so that the transition never feels forced. Read full review

Noel Murray

Jun 30, 2011

It's best enjoyed as a crackling performance piece. Read full review

Peter Travers

Jun 30, 2011

The dialogue is witty and spiked with delicious malice. At least it is when Pierce delivers it. Read full review

Boxoffice Magazine Mark Keizer

Jun 26, 2011

Pierce delivers everything the role requires except serious menace, while the less-seasoned Crawford improves as his handsome face bares more of the evening's scars. Read full review

Robert Abele

Jun 30, 2011

What aims for Hitchcockian slyness ends up an inconsequential jumble in the comedy thriller The Perfect Host. Read full review

Michael Atkinson

Jun 28, 2011

First-timer Nick Tomnay has expanded his movie from a short, and the point where he ran out of ideas looms like a cliff edge. Read full review

Rex Reed

Jun 26, 2011

This is bargain-basement moviemaking, and looks it. Here's wishing Mr. Pierce a vigorous movie career, and better luck next time. Read full review

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User Reviews

CBZ

Oct 15, 2011

This is a very interesting movie, that doesn't follow all the clichÃ©s and keeps the audience interested until the end. I really enjoyed it since it has no boring parts, you never know whats coming in the next scene.

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JonathanC

Oct 8, 2011

Let's face it, most movies today, the vast majority, use standard story telling techniques and cliche's to tell their similar stories, but it was refreshing to see a "ride" come back to a modern movie. Yes I thought about the two or three twists that may come and was right in two of them,Let's face it, most movies today, the vast majority, use standard story telling techniques and cliche's to tell their similar stories, but it was refreshing to see a "ride" come back to a modern movie. Yes I thought about the two or three twists that may come and was right in two of them, but it was unravelled in a playful way, which was very refreshing and original for a thriller. I really enjoyed David Hyde-Pierce in this film, and hope we see a lot more of him in the future. The movie opens in a great way, setting the tone of a heist, action and drops it nicely into a "stage play" format. I loved it.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

leaveit

Feb 16, 2016

This movie was rather underrated. The characters were interesting, the script was suspenseful, and the film didn't have any delusions about itself. It's not exactly going to change your life, but portions of the movie are far from standard Hollywood fare so that the whole project seems likeThis movie was rather underrated. The characters were interesting, the script was suspenseful, and the film didn't have any delusions about itself. It's not exactly going to change your life, but portions of the movie are far from standard Hollywood fare so that the whole project seems like more of an artistic outing rather than a blockbuster attempt. David Hyde Pierce shows his chops in a role that is presented (type-cast, probably) as your typical yuppie peabody but reveals new layers underneath. Despite its critic rating here which suggests that it's totally mediocre, I would argue that it is at least worth watching.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TheMudDoctor

Sep 12, 2011

Nick Tomnayâ

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Filmcritic4art

Aug 24, 2016

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This movie was disappointing precisely because it could have been superb. Anyone who remembers the hysterically funny antics of Frasier's brother Niles, played by David Hyde Pierce, will wish Frasier's writing staff had helped the director out with the "comedy"this movie was attempting to portray...

When a bank robber (John) who's day has gone horribly wrong shows up posing as a friend of a friend at Warwick's immaculate home dripping blood from a gunshot (onto his impeccably stylish wood floors), one has the feeling that all the ingredients are ready for a black comedy. Especially when the news accidentally comes (out on the radio) and the robber threatens Warwick's life with a knife. How does Warwick respond? "But you can't kill me. I'm having a dinner party!" "Yes!" I thought,"That is the start of all sorts of Niles-like antics bantered back by doomed John, the bank robber who clearly thinks he's an annoying stuffy twerp." But no, it was not. Instead, that was the last truly funny thing in the movie, at least for me.

After that, the "Niles" character becomes a partly devious (but actually insane) stalker, who makes us think he's something like Jeffrey Dahmer, and there are plenty of us who are not entertained by the antics of actual serial killers! By the time we find John drugged and tied up in Warwick's tub while Warwick "pleasures himself," I felt sick and fast forwarded my way out of the embarrassment. Poor actors! Who made them appear like that?

It turns out that Warwick didn't kill John after all, that: he just used makeup to feign the slashed throat, and that he happens to be a policeman, who happens to be on the bank robbery... Really. Really?? Then, instead of capturing the robber, he makes certain to intercept him just as his attempt to leave with the cash was underway. Threatening to shoot John unless he hands over the cash, he tosses back $2,000 because "customs will be rough in Mexico." Whereupon he walks the rest of the loot back to his posh apartment.

Sometime later, Warwick's partner at the police station gets a polaroid photo of the robber with Warwick (that was taken at the "party"). His partner confronts him and says they will need to "see his apartment." Guess what? Warwick talks him out of a formal investigation, instead asking him to "come to dinner." Where one supposes the entire movie would be repeated with a new victim...but without me.

Someone should have made this movie go in a better direction, or put a stop to it before it went too far!… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

CaptainHowdy

Apr 14, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. For all the attempted twists and turns, this film doesn't really work. During the central story of the plot, there's a lot going on, but nothing actually happens most of the time. The big plot twist is given away far too early, so the audience never gets a chance to puzzle over the situation and eventually put the pieces together.

When the main plot falls flat, they tack on a secondary plot as so many poorly made movies do, leading to an ending that is both cliched and preposterous at the same time. David Hyde Pierce tries to work with what he's given, but he really isn't up to the task. For all his flamboyance, Hyde's acting is still stuck in sitcom mode. What emerges is a slightly below average movie that could have been better if it wasn't basically just doing a low budget chapter in the Hannibal Lecter series.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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