A Perfect Man (2013) User Reviews (11)

Loved the dog

[rhondasmit · 6/10 · 5 October 2018]

The movie is meh. Cheating husband, wife fed up, but oh they still love each other - that was never their problem, even though he has slept with anything that moves, but who cares... ... seriously, you can't really care, the people are so unappealing and flawed, and not even in the least interesting, but it's the dog who steals the show.

I love Briards, and Larry (Mahler) is great.

The people have no redeeming properties, and don't deserve the dog. The man uses him as a bargaining chit, the woman doesn't take the dog with her when she leaves, knowing that the man won't walk him/care for him, so to a dog lover like me, either one of them can go straight to hell, and give the dog to me.

The movie is a little slow moving & very hard to get into but keep in mind that I am a man & not into the Lifetime-type movies

[cosmo_tiger · 5/10 · 26 January 2014]

"We haven't talked like that since we first met." Nina (Tripplehorn) and James (Schreiber) are a happily married couple, at least that is what Nina thinks. One day as a joke she follows one of her friends as she heads home. When she catches her with her husband her life is shattered. When she moves out she finds its not as easy to get over him as he thought. In order for closure she calls him as another woman and the romance starts to spark again. This is a hard movie to explain. First of all the synopsis I gave is what I read the movie is about before I started to watch. The only problem with this is that explanation doesn't really seem to be the main focus of the movie. While that is an aspect of it I really think the main plot of the movie is watching how James deals with his actions and how it affects him and everyone and and everything around him. All that said the movie isn't bad but it had the definite feel of a Lifetime movie. The movie itself is a little slow moving and very hard to get into but keep in mind that I am a man and not into the Lifetime-type movies. Overall, another movie where the idea sounds better then the execution. I give this a C+.

Amsterdam Or Bust!

[spookyrat1 · 6/10 · 27 September 2019]

First up, I have to say that I was never aware or could never tell, that this film was made over 13 years. The majority of the film was produced in 2000, then shelved, then finalised some 12/13 years later after reshoots and further editing. None of the cast seems to have aged over that time. I don't really know how the uniformity was achieved.

A Perfect Man is not a great story, but it is interesting. I really liked seeing Jeanne Tripplehorn in a lead role again and feel sorry for her, that the film, when finally released, flopped big time. She deserves better. Her Nina is a dignified woman, though I do find it hard to believe she would have stayed with her husband of 9 years, after 4 previously revealed affairs on his part.

Liev Schreiber does just about the impossible and makes a serial heel of a guy, actually somewhat sympathetic. The Dutch locations are very watchable and largely Dutch support characters of some interest. (Let's not even bring up the stereotypical, big talking. Aussie client.) I did find it a little strange the underlining of Nina's bestie being a supposed trans male, though I guess it did fit in with the running theme of role playing games, operating through the storyline.

The ambivalent conclusion with the possibility floated of a reconciliation in an old location is well-handled and realistic. And the casting of "Lawrence" the dog was a winner as far as I was concerned. Good to see him get fairly extensive screen time. With canine charm and appeal, he easily stole every scene he was in. The curious discerning viewer may well find A Perfect Man to be of some interest.

A Perfect Man: What seems to pass as a love story these days

[Platypuschow · 2/10 · 22 March 2024]

Plot

A womanizing husband inadvertently falls back in love with his wife over the phone when she pretends to be another woman.

Cast

Jeanne Tripplehorn and Liev Schreiber are excellent as always, supporting cast? Forgettable.

Verdict

I have an issue with movies where I'm supposed to root for a vile person, I doubly have an issue where I'm watching a supposed love story and they treat each other poorly and it's played out as being fine and they live happily ever after. A Perfect Man is a great example of this, he's a wretched human being who betrays her trust and he's still made out to be a good guy trying to redeem himself. He's a scumbag, undeserving and the story should have ended in the first 10 minutes.

How am I supposed to watch a film like this? Who am I supposed to root for?

Rants

You know the "Girls like bad boys" cliche, I've seen so much of it through my life, women who are beaten and cheated on but make excuses for their spouses and stay with them. I knew one woman who during her 9 year relationship she found out about a dozen different women and was put in hospital 5 times including one that resulted in her having re-constructive surgery! Did she leave him? No. Wanna know how that 9 year relationship ended? At his hands. I'll never understand why women stay with abusive or cheating partners and this movie glamorizes this foolishness.

The Good

Incredible cast

The Bad

Concept is appalling.

A great idea is executed as badly as you can possibly imagine

[callanvass · 3/10 · 23 January 2014]

Nina (Tripplehorn) has had enough of her Husband's cheating, giving him the boot in the process. James (Schreiber) unintentionally falls back in love with Nina after she pretends to be another woman on the phone. I liked the idea of the "reverse" love story. It did an original thing by not going the predictable route. The way it is executed really disappointed me. It is so dull. I had no interest in the two leads. They were unlikable people that I had no sympathy for. Tripplehorn's character is easier to sympathize than Schreiber's, obviously, but that didn't change that I didn't like her either. Why did she put up with this for so long in the first place? He should have been gone the first or second time that she caught him cheating. As a big romantic, I hated this film. The dog stole every scene he was in as far as i'm concerned

3/10

Typical love story movie! 3/10

[leonblackwood · 3/10 · 21 February 2015]

Review: This is a very simple movie, based in Amsterdam, about a man who has an affair with his work partners wife and blatantly gets caught out by his wife. After her birthday party, she decides to leaves her husband and the rest of the film is about how much they can't live apart. There wasn't that much to the film and I personally found it quite bland and dull. There are a couple of twists along the way, which were pretty predictable and the ending wasn't that amazing. It could have done with a few more interesting characters and some more substance but on the plus side, the acting was OK. It's basically your everyday story about the ups and downs of a relationship, which I got quite bored of after a while. I was hoping for something out of the norm to happen, which it doesn't, but I'm sure that the lovebirds out there will find it slightly entertaining. TV Movie!

Round-Up: Liev Schreiber has certainly had a versatile career. From the action packed X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Salt to deep dramas like the Butler and comedies like Fading Gigolo, he's really covered different genres throughout his career, which started in 1994. At the age of 47, he's not showing any signs of slowing down but I doubt that this film will push him into the mainstream. Jeanne Tripplehorn's claim to fame was her role in The Firm but she hasn't really starred in any major since. I honestly think that Waterworld really destroyed her and Costner's career and there both trying there utmost to get back to were they were at the height of there careers. As for this movie, I was more interested in the dog than the couple, which I totally blame on the director because he didn't give the audience a chance to warm to the cast. Its short an sweet but not my cup of tea.

Budget: $5million Worldwide Gross: N/A

I recommend this movie to people who are into their romance/dramas about a couple who questions there love for each other after the man gets caught having an affair with his wife's best friend. 3/10

So underrated

[Jdidalot · 7/10 · 12 January 2014]

It is sad that today's audience always needs to see movies with people getting killed, some T&A, some drugs and bad guys/good guys stories, some mistreatment, rape, abuse, winning over prejudice or physical/ emotional weaknesses.

This movie just takes a slice of a couple's life and makes you wonder if it's the last piece or if they are going to make a new one together.

I really like this movie because it is real. More real than any reality show you might be watching. It's tender and tough, it's sad and hopeful. I like it because it's located in one of my most favorite places: Amsterdam, the picture is beautiful: the directing and filming are great and the acting is impeccable: (As another reviewer wrote) Liev Schreiber is very good, as well as Joelle Carter and Louise Fletcher but the outstanding performance of Jeanne Tripplehorn makes you wonder why we don't see her more often in major productions. Don't get me started with the dog.... How did they get him to play his part so well?

Give this movie a try for the simple reason that it is very well done and tasty. I am sure glad I got to see it.

The Movie Name is Misleading

[sadat_unplugged · 7/10 · 16 July 2021]

I liked the idea of the "reverse" love story. It did an original thing by not going the predictable route.

Engaging, compelling, "backwards" romantic comedy...

[A_Different_Drummer · 9/10 · 5 November 2013]

Engaging, well-directed, beautifully photographed, "backwards" romantic comedy, very quirky, very indie, and clearly destined to be very unappreciated - especially since (many thanks for the 'headsup' from another IMDb user) it was actually made in 2000 under another working title, and could not find a distributor until now. Some notes: 1. Jeanne Tripplehorn is one of the most under-utilized actresses in the game, and this film makes that fact very clear. Although Liev Schreiber is good, she is never less than great. To revive an old cliché, she "delivers entire lines of dialogue using only her eyes." Nice eyes too. It had been almost 10 years, for example, since then-superstar Kevin Costner selected Tripplehorn to provide all the oestrogen (ie, female energy) for an entire epic, Waterworld (also a somewhat misunderstood film) and frankly she still looked spectacular in this one. 2. This is indie and it shows. Not a bad thing. Sometimes avoiding the Hollywood formula subliminally frees the viewers from having to respond to certain scenes in a predictable way (Pavlovian) and gives both the film-maker and the audience more room to experiment. If this film had been made in the mainstream, for example, it would star Michelle Monaghan. It's "that" kind of film. 3. The story? Instead of guy finds girl, guy gets girl (the standard), here we have guy already has girl, guy loses girl, guy (may) get a shot at retrieving girl. Again, this is a "backwards" story but, given a chance, it works just fine. 4. The IMDb synopsis explains it is all about a guy who falls in love with his wife "all over again" over the phone while believing she is someone else. This is incorrect. Not IMDb's fault -- no doubt taken from the PR material provided by whatever distributor is still desperately trying to move the product. But that plot twist is entirely incidental to the main story, it is indeed not the story, and it misrepresents the story. The fact that even the people distributing the film may not have actually seen it tells you that this flick is still unlikely to find the audience it deserves. 5. Supporting cast is excellent. Joelle Carter, well ahead of her success in Justified, is radiant (er, hot) as ever, and Louise Fletcher, also fairly underexposed, is more than adequate. Even the dog gives a brilliant performance. (He plays a dog, but an exceptionally friendly one). 6. Some reviewers may tell you this is a film about marriage. Bunk. It is a film about men and women, and the communication issues therein. It is well worth a look.

A Movie about relationships

[jabrownstoryteller · 8/10 · 9 June 2017]

I agree with the other reviewers that the summary of this movie is wrong. He doesn't fall in love with his wife, he's always loved her, kept her separate from himself, and apart from the way he measured himself as a man, but there is never any doubt for me that he loved her.

She's his touchstone, but their relationship is not enough to define his own definition of what it is to be a man. He keeps that score based on how many women he sleeps with. All meaningless encounters that amount to notches in his belt, and reassure him that his man card has the right amount of stamps on it it.

It's a situation he finds perfect until his wife, who knows about his countless infidelities, finally reaches her limit on and says, no more. Her abrupt departure from his life makes him reevaluate what matters most to him and how he has been measuring his existence and he realizes that he has been wrong about pretty much everything.

For her, she wants to understand what she did or didn't do that led them here, and comes to realize that it was never about the changes she made in herself, or the compromises she accepted to maintain her marriage, because the problem was in his view of how men are "supposed" to behave, and in hers about what women are "supposed" to tolerate.

This is story about stereotypes and the havoc they can cause in a relationship. To be a man he has to behave this way, and to be a woman is to tolerate it, because that is what they do. Neither of those is true, but many relationships have ended because of people's belief that this is what they are "supposed to do."

I loved this movie. I loved the games they played together. I loved the way the leads interacted, and reacted to each other together and apart. I loved that even though their relationship was ending (or seemed to be) they were both still very certain of how they felt for each other.

I could have done without the scene where he helped her pack and destroyed her clothes because he was petulant and angry, but I suppose that level of emotional immaturity needed to be visually displayed. I probably could have also done without the incredible number or women that came onto him time and time again. It made it almost seem like he was a prisoner of others actions and not responsible for his own choices.

I liked that they acknowledged that so much history between two people is hard to walk away from, even if the history is painful.

I also liked the way it ends. Full of hope and possibility even after everything that has happened. Both leads were amazing, and more people should give this film a chance.

A great takeaway

[jayzway42 · 9/10 · 28 November 2021]

This movie truly hit home, because it was all about a guy name James (Me). I really didn't realize how much I loved Tia and took her very existence for granted. This was art in motion, the hell with the rest speak on...