You’ve seen it all before: an overdramatic, platonic thriller with cliché relationships and scare tactics. The Perfect Guy is a film that should have appeared on the Lifetime channel rather than on the big screen. It follows every Lifetime movie plot; girl loves guy, guy doesn’t love her back, and so on.

“The Perfect Guy” features gorgeous actors in stylish settings, with flattering lights and trendy wardrobe. Los Angeles shimmers in the daytime, and glitters at night, and most of the action happens in Leah’s modern beautiful home in the hills, which is played by Sanaa Lathan.

Leah is a L.A lobbyist who seemingly has it all, including a longtime caring boyfriend, Dave, played by Morris Chestnut. Leah is ready to settle down with marriage and a family. However, Dave, who has been surrounded by divorce, is not ready for commitment. That draws Leah straight into the arms of Carter, played by Michael Ealy.

After sharing a moment at a coffee shop, they meet again at a restaurant when Carter comes in to save poor Leah from a drunken male’s unwanted attempt at the bar. He is too good to be true. One would say perfect, hence the title of the film. Besides his obviously attractive face and body, Carter is attentive, thoughtful and lives up to the title. He eventually wins over Leah unfriendly dad, played by Charles Stanley Dutton.

But after he suddenly erupts into rage and nearly beats a man to death at a gas station, Leah sees him in a perspective and ultimately begins her exit from the relationship. When she breaks it off entirely, Carter is revealed as a raving psycho who will stop at nothing to get her back.

There’s no tension, or real fear in Carter’s change, all because it happens so quickly. There is no arc to his personality. He goes from suave to psycho in the blink of an eye. Leah says herself, when she confides in a friend, that it’s as if a switch had been flipped. His crazy is shown when he sneaks into her washroom and puts her toothbrush in his mouth, just to experience the sensation of being near her. It is terrifying and equally creepy, but essentially drew giggles from the audience.

You can pretty much guess the rest of the story from here, as the increasingly desperate Leah tries to find help from friends and eventually the police after Carter hacks her phone and computer. Her beloved cat disappears and many other forms of creepy, unnecessary events follow. A restraining order is issued with very little effect. Dave, newly back in Leah’s life, steps in and takes physical action against Carter, who uses his professional skills to help with his goals.

In the end, the film just wasn’t interesting, did not captivate me, nor did it send shivers dancing up my spine. It features good actors playing terrible parts. The director captured every romance thriller ever. It’s safe to say this film will let you down if you were expecting something more and different.