A Perfect Getaway

Review By: Dan Deevy
DanDeevy@TheCinemaSource.com

Movie Grade: B

A Perfect Getaway is by no means a perfect movie, let’s get that out of the way right off the bat. It doesn’t redefine a genre or reinvent the wheel in any way, but I do think you should go see it because it is a hell of a lot of fun! And with all of the mindless meaningless crap that’s out there, this one at least isn’t trying to be something it’s not. It delivers on a very visceral level and keeps you either laughing or jumping in your seat through most of it.

The title of course works on two levels, A Perfect Getaway as in vacation or honeymoon and also A Perfect Getaway as in run for your life this psycho is trying to kill us! This film also attempts to operate on dual levels but isn’t quite as successful as the title.

Everyone’s been talking about the twist at the end promising it to be something similar to what the first Scream movie achieved or the first Saw… I’m certainly not going to give it away but I can say it’s not nearly as good as the ones I just mentioned. It’s good and I doubt many people will see it coming but it’s not cataclysmically unforeseen in the way that Jigsaw getting up and walking out of the room at the end of Saw was. That was beyond brilliant. This one is just kind of clever in a ‘you sort of tricked us’ type of way.

Unfortunately for me that surprise was ruined by some D-bag at a District 9 screening the week before I saw this who just blurted it out in a room full of critics who hadn’t seen it yet. Yeah, you know who you are! He’s hopefully been made a pariah in the community now. I mean who does that? It’s especially bad when it’s someone who’s in the business; just stupid. Now thanks to him I’ll never know what the true impact of the ending would have been on me had it not been ruined.

In any event I was still pulled in to the story and really enjoyed the ride even though I knew what was coming so that says something. I’m not sure if it was the story or how hot Timothy Olyphant is when he’s wet, but something kept my eyes glued to that screen right up until the very end.

Stars Timothy Olyphant and Steve Zahn are well paired in this movie considering they are two of the most under appreciated actors out there today. Maybe seeing them together will make America realize they deserve more attention. Olyphant’s creepy yet sexy demeanor is a nice counter point to Zahn’s goof ball kid who never made the team smart alek.

The ladies pull their weight in this as well but visually it’s the scenery that steals the show. I’m not sure it they were actually in Hawaii or ...