The Perfect Host (2011)

Tagline: Dinner parties are a dying art.

Curiosity: David Hyde Pierce gets all types of American Psycho.

Plot: When his getaway after a bank robbery goes awry, John (Clayne Crawford) has to find a place to hideout, and fast. He settles for tricking Warwick (Pierce) into thinking he’s a friend of a friend. Warwick is getting ready to host a dinner party, but John’s lies about getting mugged are too heartbreaking for him to ignore. But when John threatens to kill him, Warwick lets loose his innermost demons. And shit.

Thoughts: For the first 60 minutes, The Perfect Host is really good. Even though you know from the advertising that Pierce is going to trap Crawford’s character, there’s still an energy that comes with watching them play cat and mouse. And when Pierce does finally go into full-on crazy mode, he gives an incredible performance. He pantomimes through scene after scene as he talks to people who aren’t there. He betrays no hint of irony as he fully commits to acting alongside hallucinations. He nails it in scene after scene, even approaching camp during a dance revue before culminating in the creepiest sex scene I’ve seen in a long time. Pierce is flawless, while Crawford gradually switches the audience’s feelings towards his character, gradually giving him sympathetic qualities that lend the film some ground to stand on. It’s a thankless straight man role, but Crawford holds his own.

But after that 60-minute mark, The Perfect Host just about falls apart. It pulls out too many twists in its final 30 minutes, and each one feels like a mistake or a missed opportunity. The wheels start coming off at a rapid clip as it morphs from a horror film to a standard cop drama, with each twist feeling increasingly belabored. While I can respect writer/director Nick Tomnay’s decision to go for something out of the ordinary here, the ending belongs to a different movie altogether. I would not have minded having a more traditional ending, even if it would have been more predictable. As is, the film can be broken up into three 30-minutes: 1) When John is in control, 2) When Warwick is in control, and 3) When twists start piling up like a car wreck.

Reflection: Pierce is as creepy here as he is funny in Wet Hot American Summer, even though the characters are only removed by a few degrees.