The Perfect Neighbor (2005 TV Movie) User Reviews

Bad, but boy, what awful portraits must be in those gals' closets

[blanche-2 · 4/10 · 8 May 2009]

It's getting to be that the name Perry King is synonymous with bad Lifetime-type movies, which is a shame.

This is a Fatal Attraction ripoff with no attraction - it's all in her head - but lots of fatal. Barbara Niven plays a woman with a daddy complex - her father left when she was 8 and she blamed her mother - who goes from married man to married man seeking fulfillment. I guess she never watched Lifetime herself or she would know this is a dead end. The last guy who told her he wasn't leaving his wife got a knife in his stomach. Niven then flees to her aunt's and within five seconds is in love with Perry King, who lives next door and is married to Susan Blakeley. Mentally she's hot and heavy with him by the first commercial. There are some other people to get out of the way first, though, and a marriage to drive in the final coffin nails.

The only impressive thing about this movie was that Barbara Niven was 52 when she made it and Susan Blakeley, playing a woman with a very young daughter, was a whopping 57. I can only say, I'll have what they're having. They both look absolutely amazing in this movie. I thought I must be wrong that I saw Blakeley in Rich Man, Poor Man in the '70s, but of course I wasn't. I started to suspect the Dorian Gray syndrome with the hideous portraits in the closets. Good for them - but both actresses deserve much better. Perry King was his usual handsome, affable, clueless self.

I'd say don't watch it but if you catch it on Lifetime, just watch the first 15 minutes to catch a gander at what the fifties look like today for women and remember a time when a woman hit 30 and Hollywood stuck gray in actress' hair and made them play maiden aunts.

Bit of a let-down compared to the others

[nicholas.rhodes · 5/10 · 6 September 2006]

I willingly collect all these "The Perfect ..." films and enjoy this type of movie .... perfect neighbour, perfect tenant, perfect wife, perfect nanny etc .. However I must admit that this is the first ( and hopefully the only of the series ) to be rather a let-down plot-wise. Basically the plot is too shallow and there is nowhere near enough nail-biting suspense ( compare with "The Perfect Wife" - you'll notice the difference ). I like the actor Perry King and am totally subdued by the gorgeous Susan Blakely but even these two could not save the film. As I said, the plot was badly constructed. Obviously this kind of film is fairly predictable as to the outcome - that is not a defect for me - but I like the plot to have some good surprises and suspense even if I know what the final outcome will be. In addition, the performance of Donna is not convincing. I have seen many films with beautiful but psychotic women but this one fails to convince. Additionally, when Donna is killed by Blakely with one pathetic gunshot that sounded like a kid's pôp-gun, I couldn't believe that was the end. Surely something more dramatic had to follow ? Alas not, and when I saw the end credits start to roll, I thought to myself "what a waste of a film", surely they could have come up with something better than this. Perry King, Susan Blakely and Tracy were great but what can great actors do without a sufficiently good plot ?

"Go Home... Nothing To See Here!"

[tarbosh22000 · 5/10 · 11 September 2005]

THIS NOTE DOES CONTAIN MILD SPOILERS! "The Perfect Neighbor" is another knockoff of "Fatal Attraction". It's not a bad movie, but it's so predictable.

The plot: Donna Germaine (Barbara Niven) is middle-aged and lonely. Her last husband leaves her. She gets into a rage about that and kills him. After that, she leaves and moves into a small town. There she meets William Costigan (Perry King) and falls in love with him. William is married, but that doesn't stop Donna from taking over his life.

When are these "Fatal Attraction" ripoffs going to stop? There are hundreds of them. For a movie like this to succeed, it needs to be original. The acting, directing, and writing are okay, but that's not enough to warrant a look.

For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

YAWN - Too slow, Too simple

[jpwhite3 · 2/10 · 22 January 2006]

This movie moved at a snails pace and the story line was way too simple to be interesting, in fact many threads they could have continued were dropped.

Donna committed several murders but seemed to attract no attention from Police. In fact the police only briefly got involved while all the dead bodies continued to pile up.

Typical 'TV movie'.

Acting was reasonable, let down by the story line. No real suspense or thrills here, way too predictable. Donna the murderess used a floppy disk which kinda made the Movie seem dated before its time.

Sorry, but I don't have much positive to say about this movie.

lower quality than a made-for-TV movie

[elarsson · 2/10 · 3 October 2005]

I agree with the previous writer (except that it was her lover that she killed first, when he refused to leave his wife).

But more than that, this movie is worse than a typical made for TV movie. It has lower production values and barely manages to maintain interest. There is absolutely no suspense at any point, even though it should be a suspenseful movie, if it were true to its cover art.

I also was surprised that Susan Blakely got third billing, so I take some pride from that, that I'm probably not as wired into the soaps as I could be. The pairing of these actors must be based upon soap fame.

Don't waste your time.

Don't waste your time

[killerorca · 3/10 · 14 October 2005]

Let the foolish people who were dumb enough to rent this give you a piece of advice, go to bed early and skip this extremely predictable movie that apparently ran out of film at the end. This "film" was shallow and appeared to be dragged along in an effort to fit it all in within the allotted time. The best part of the entire movie was that the two leading ladies were very attractive 50 something women who in another setting may have been able to better capture and retain your attention.

Yet another disappointing waste of time, next time I'll read the previews before renting.

Not the best movie I've ever seen

[Gruckel-1 · 3/10 · 5 April 2006]

I must say that when I picked the box up the cover and the description of the movie almost made me feel a bit uncomfortable, because it seemed to be able to give me quite a fright. Now the only thing which made me feel uncomfortable was how bad the actors were. Perry King who played William Costigan was the one who I found to make the best of this movie and his part wasn't big enough to lift it up a lot. Maybe from a two to a three but no more than that. Barbara Niven who played the main character Donna Germaine was quite a disappointment, the character was well written and did somethings which a person in that state might actually do if this had been for real. Barabara Niven who was very... good at overplaying the part where she was "The Perfect Neighbor" should probably not be offered similar roles. The day I watched this I had, had a good night's sleep but after the movie was to an end I was almost about to have another one and this was in the middle of the day mind you. Usually after watching a movie of this class I'd recommend it as a sleeping pill, but since the story is quite disturbing (it really was a nice thought) and the acting is so terrible, you might, if you are in that mood laugh until you cry. I'd recommend this movie for someone who has a nice boy or girl over and doesn't want to focus all of their energy on a movie to rent this one. That might actually have been it's purpose.

Simplistic and Predictable Festival of Clichés

[claudio_carvalho · 3/10 · 15 June 2006]

In Kansas City, the deranged middle-age Donna Germaine (Barbara Niven) stabs and kills her lover, when he calls off their relationship to stay with his wife. Donna uses an excuse to move to the house of her aunt, and she becomes obsessed in their neighbor, the executive William Costigan (Perry King). The sick Donna plots an evil scheme to take William from his wife Jeannie Costigan (Susan Bakely).

This awful rip-off of "Fatal Attraction" is a simplistic and predictable festival of clichés, a typical broadcast TV flick. The flawed screenplay is absolutely silly, the grimaces of Barbara Niven are terrible, and the horrible accent and tune of voice of Perry King are laughable. This is the type of movie that the viewer knows exactly the next step of the script. This film is a pure waste of time and money, better off taking a nap instead. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "O Vizinho Perfeito" ("The Perfect Neighbor")

Barbara Niven sucks!

[guilfisher-1 · 1/10 · 10 November 2008]

In this insipid movie made for TV Niven plays yet another evil witch and does it badly. With a constant sneer on her face, she walks through the movie I guess to indicate she's bad. WRONG! She's God awful . . . . as an actress. Never have liked her and this boring predictable movie proves it. Add to this Perry King yet another stupid husband who doesn't seem to live on this earth. He let's manipulative females rule his roost in almost every movie he's in. This is no exception. Blindly he falls for the witch. When it comes to looks certainly Niven ain't got it, believe me. Why the lovely and talented Susan Blakely would do this junk is beyond me. And why King would prefer Niven over Blakely is like Newman not wanting to bed with Taylor in CAT ON HOT TIN ROOF. Unimaginable. So hands down on Niven and hoping she won't be seen again on TV.

Barbara Niven Was Red HOT

[whpratt1 · 10/10 · 7 November 2005]

This picture opens up with a murder being committed and you see the killer and understand almost immediately why this person was permitted to have a very short life on earth. There was a great deal of hatred in the killers face and a real dark dark side, along with a tortured deep mental problem. Barbara Niven,(Donna Germaine),"The Drone Virus",'04, put her heart and soul into this role and showed what a great talent she has to offer Hollywood. Donna gets her complete mind, body and soul into getting a SOUL MATE for life and will do anything that will accomplish her goal. Human life is taken left and right through out the picture and everything is a perfect crime to go along with the Title of the film, " A Perfect Neighbor". Enjoy.

2005?

[jennifercadet · 3/10 · 15 April 2021]

This movie looks like it's from 1995. The floppy disk sent me flying.

I'm angry again

[rps-2 · 2/10 · 13 August 2015]

Let's forget for the moment that this an absurd chick flick with a preposterous plot. I might have given it a 4 or 5. But it is yet one more in the endless stream of mediocre movies shot in Canada and financed with Canadian tax breaks that is set in the United States. Why do we not have the GUTS to produce Canadian movies set in Canada????. This film was shot in Ottawa. Why was it not also SET there??? But no... The bad guy, make that bad girl, is from Kansas City. The victim's wife gets a job in New York City. Her husband goes off to a meeting in Chicago. The television station against which much of the inane plot revolves has American call letters. Cars have US license plates.(Not sure which state but they sure were not Ontario plates!)It is insulting, demeaning, cowardly, unpatriotic and stupid! I have no problem with American film companies coming up here and using Toronto as a stand in for Detroit. (That actually happened!) I don't even mind it when a Canadian film company does work for an American studio. But producing "Canadian" movies which keep their Canadian roots hidden puts us slightly below Botswana in the ranking of film producing nations. Is there any other nation on earth so cinematically gutless that it does this? I don't know how anyone involved, from the actors to the honey wagon driver, can take the least pride in their work. (Incidentally guys, you failed to conceal two dead giveaway Canadian clues. The words "Caribbean" and "schedule" are pronounced the Canadian way.)

Daddy's Little Girl

[lavatch · 8/10 · 18 November 2019]

As a child, the love received by little Donna never seemed to be enough. When her daddy left home, Donna blamed her mother and planned to kill her. But before she could realize her plan, the mother slipped on a floor and died. Now, as an adult, Donna is still searching for her lost daddy and will stop at nothing in removing all obstacles in her path of a desire male mate.

Donna's kind Auntie Grace takes Donna in after she has moved away from her previous home. But unknown to Auntie Grace, Donna has just murdered a man with whom she was conducting an extramarital affair. He would not leave his wife, so Donna stabbed him and buried the body.

Next on Donna's hit list is poor Auntie Grace, a savvy businesswoman, who runs a travel operation out of her home. Auntie Grace gets wise to her disturbed niece, and winds up a casualty after Donna pushes her down the stairs. Next up for Donna is Ashley, the assistant of Donna's neighbor William, who lives happily with his wife Jeannie and their lovely child Trish.

William is head of the WGBC television station, and Ashley is his hard-working executive assistant. In Donna's master plan, she wants to take Ashley's place to get closer to William. She clocks Ashley with a tire iron and plants incriminating evidence that makes it appear that Ashley and William were having an affair.

But Donna had not counted on the strength of William's marriage to Jeannie. Despite an indiscretion of five years ago, William and Jeannie have forged a bond that will be a formidable barrier to Donna's obsessive pursuit of William.

The character of Donna was one of the creepiest appearing in the Lifetime film. There was little to find sympathetic about the morbidly fixated Donna. As a person, there were tips evident to the viewer but apparently not to the other characters that daddy's little girl needed the help she deserves.

An early tip-off was when she brushed off the kind co-worker Chuck with the line "I'm taken." Donna was taken all right...by the father figure who vanished from her life and left a void that could never be filled

I liked it

[angeladavis49 · 9/10 · 27 June 2021]

Wow! The reviews here are from people who evidently thought this was an Oscar nominated film that they must completely tear down. I took it as a enjoyable lifetime film. Perry king , Susan blakley and even the child were very believable in it, I thought. This kind of movie is just for light, predictable viewing and was taken so seriously by so many on here that that's what's laughable. Someone even criticized Perry Kings accent which is his normal accent. Hahaha - I liked it and it seems to stay on lifetimes channel all the time so it must be watched and liked by a lot of people. I guess the reviewers forgot they could just stop watching if it made them so angry.