Perfect Stranger

Synopsis: Rowena Price is a muckraking reporter for a New York paper. When her story about a closeted gay Senator who preaches family values is spiked, she quits and soon finds herself investigating the grisly murder of a childhood friend. Her friend had been dumped by ad exec Harrison Hill, so he's Rowena's prime suspect. Rowena gets a job at the ad agency as a temp, and she's soon the object of Hill's attentions. She's helped in her subterfuge by Miles Haley, a friend at the paper who has a secret thing for her. Everyone, it seems, has secrets, including Hill, who must keep his affairs from his wife - her money fuels his lifestyle. Murder will out?
Genre: Crime, Drama, Horror
Director(s): James Foley
Production: Sony Pictures
  1 win.
 
IMDB:
5.7
Metacritic:
31
Rotten Tomatoes:
11%
R
Year:
2007
109 min
$23,705,592
Website
1,305 Views


-Here you go, miss.

-Thank you.

Step through, please.

Open your laptop, please.

I guess people take their computers

with them everywhere nowadays.

Security blanket.

Lucky blanket.

Next.

Wow, even answer your own door,

senator.

-I'm impressed.

-Front-porch mentality.

I like to know who's visiting.

Plus, my secretary, Laura,

just stepped out for an early lunch.

Caroline Eldridge from

Family First is visiting.

You're early. I like that. Come in.

-Let's take the sofa.

-Okay.

Hope you don't mind if I take

this out.

My hard drive is now officially

my only source of memory...

...and I wanna get all those

old-fashioned values down accurately.

Now, as you know, we're putting

together our Family First brochure...

...and we've got pictures

that we could use captions for.

-Fire away.

-Okay.

Let's start with this one.

That's me and some of the staff

in the Gulf of Mexico after Katrina.

Heartbreaking stuff.

Okay.

Let's call this:

"Senator Sachs and staff

lend a hand in hurricane relief.

-Good.

-How about that?

That's one of my former interns...

...Josh.

Must have been taken his last day

of work.

Let's call it:

-"lntern program a success."

-Okay.

Met a lot of good kids that way.

I'll bet.

How about that one?

Wait, let me try.

"lntern program has fringe benefits"?

Let's see.

-Let's call it "extramarital Sachs."

-Who are you?

Someone who thinks it's a bit

hypocritical for the past two years...

...you've tried to limit the civil rights

of gay individuals...

-...while being gay yourself.

-Lady--

Preach family first

as if there's one kind of family.

I don't know what you think you got

but let me explain something to you.

What I've got is a signed statement

by Josh.

We've got canceled checks and

he's ready to turn over the love notes.

-Laura.

-Out to lunch, remember?

It's gonna be your word against his.

We're running his tomorrow.

I work for David Shane

at the New york Courier.

Jesus Christ.

Josh came to us seven

months ago...

...and thought we'd be interested

in knowing...

...that he's not the only handsome

skeleton in your closet.

So we thought we'd give you

an opportunity to respond.

Anything you want.

I will give you anything

that you want.

Anything.

I will give-- I will give you anything

that you want.

Anything.

You just did, senator.

You just did.

Tell me you got that, Miles.

Please tell me you got that.

I got it, you psychopath.

Jump on the shuttle,

get down to the paper.

And we'll get fantastically,

exceedingly drunk.

I will give you anything that you want,

anything.

One more time.

You transmitted from D.C.

And recorded in New York.

-Go to Legal. It'll check.

-I intend to.

Also we need to clear

the quote from the intern.

He's at home waiting for the call.

This your headline, David Shane?

Yep.

We'll be at Chumley's...

...ordering copious amounts of drinks

on this paper.

God, I love this job.

Hey, hey. To David Shane.

May this article bring you

all the prizes you deserve.

Fame, alcoholism,

rehab, relapse, rehab.

When you win the Pulitzer,

don't forget the little people.

Oh, f*** the little people.

Hey, you're empty. You buy, I fly.

Excuse me, sweetheart.

Careful, Ro. Next round he might aim

for your lips.

Mr. Arvis Narron.

What kind of name is Arvis?

Family name.

Story's been pulled, Ro.

Somebody got to your intern.

Made him clam up.

My guess is somebody with lots

of zeroes.

What?

Well...

...I'm just gonna go call him.

You'll get his lawyer,

just like we did.

Do you know I've been working

on this story for six months?

Six.

Take a couple weeks off.

You've earned the break.

I'm gonna go back to the office

right now.

This guy's got a stack

of interns, trust me.

Kolski wants you to take

a couple of weeks off.

That's not a request.

Okay, wait, hold up.

Please tell me...

...you're not saying because the paper

endorsed Sachs' last campaign...

...that he's off-limits now.

Please tell me that is not

what you're saying.

-What's up, Narron?

-Get this, Miles.

Tomorrow's headline:

"Free Press Dead."

Kolski wants to shut me down

because I went after the senator.

Does it ever get to you, Narron?

The idea that we're supposed to be

reporting the news not covering it up?

Like we couldn't show the dead

bodies coming back from lraq.

If you don't see it,

means it never happened.

Your source ran dry.

-My source didn't run dry.

-You can't try to cover up--

My source was paid off.

This is a good story, Narron.

The story's dead.

Classic.

Powerful men

protecting powerful men.

I backed you when you wanted

anonymity...

...when you wanted to write under

an old boy's name.

This is not the first time you shut me

down but this is definitely the last.

So you tell Kolski keep his paid

vacation because I f***ing quit.

Taxi. Hey.

Rowena?

Rowena. Wait up.

Wait. Wait.

F***.

-Rowena.

-Grace. Sh*t, you scared me.

You didn't return my phone calls.

Well, yeah, I've been pretty busy

working out of town.

Oh, yeah. The Senator Sachs scandal.

Don't worry. I didn't tell anyone.

Besides, I got a better story for you.

It's about Harrison Hill.

-Come on.

-We met online.

We did.

He was giving a Q and A, I e-mailed

him and told him how great it was.

You know, stroke a man's dick

and you get him for one night.

Stroke his ego,

you get him for life, huh?

Yeah, we sort of struck up

a friendship online...

...but I could tell that he liked me.

So I decided to come to New York

and accidentally bump into him.

I knew about his fundraiser,

so I bought a ticket...

...walked right up to him and said,

"Harrison, it's Fast Filly."'

I thought he was gonna be angry.

But instead, he's turned on by it.

He likes the balls of it.

"Stick around," he says.

Couple hours later, we're doing it

in his Beemer, his hotel suite.

He keeps one, creep.

What happened to Chuck?

We're fighting more

than we're f***ing.

Anyway, I get back to Philly,

our online stuff gets pretty hot.

He misses me.

I mean, he practically begs me

to move here.

So I check out apartments

and agencies...

...and I wanna tell him, you know,

I'm really excited.

But suddenly,

I can't get ahold of him.

I mean, I sent him a million e-mails

and he just cuts me off.

Cold. F***er.

I know where Hill lives.

I've seen his Armani wife.

He has no idea what I can do

to him.

What is it you want from me this time,

Grace?

Actions have consequences, Ro.

You can't just forget people.

Bury them and pretend like

they never existed.

It always comes back to haunt you.

I wonder what Hill would think if David

Shane publishes a few of his e-mails?

I'm sure the wife would find them

interesting.

Take them. Read them.

Because I'm about an inch away

from ringing this guy's doorbell.

Regards to your mother.

I know where Hill lives.

I've seen his Armani wife.

He has no idea what

I can do to him.

To David Shane. May this article

bring you all the prizes you deserve.

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Todd Komarnicki

Todd Komarnicki (born 19 October 1965 in Philadelphia) is a playwright, director, producer, screenwriter, and American novelist. He resides in NYC with his wife, Jane Bradbury, and their two children. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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    "Perfect Stranger" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/perfect_stranger_15765>.

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