Line #26 Film/ThePerfectHost


1	->''"You can't kill me. I'm having a dinner party."''
2	->-- Warwick Wilson
3	[[quoteright:260:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Perfect_Host_9794.jpg]]
4	[[caption-width-right:260:"Dinner parties are [[{{Pun}} a dying art]]."]]
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6	''The Perfect Host'' is a 2010 dark comedy / thriller independent film starring Creator/DavidHydePierce of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' fame and Creator/ClayneCrawford. A career thief, John Taylor (Crawford), needs to evade police for one night after a bank robbery that resulted in a wound to his foot. Turned away by other residents of Los Angeles, he concocts a quick story to get into the house of a man living alone, Warwick Wilson (Pierce). Warwick has his own plans for John though, but first, he's expecting guests.
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8	As this film has various {{Plot Twist}}s, '''expect spoilers ahead.'''
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11	!!''The Perfect Host'' provides examples of:
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13	* ActorISTheTitleCharacter: One poster announced the title and main actor as "David Hyde Pierce Is The Perfect Host".
14	* AffablyEvil: Warwick is quite happy about everything he does.
15	* AntiHero: John, to two different (possibly) sympathetic villains.
16	* AxCrazy
17	* ContrivedCoincidence: Not only was John unlucky enough to take refuge in a convenience store that is immediately subjected to a robbery and hide in the house of a guy who turns out to be an utter psycho, but [[spoiler:said psycho is also the police lieutenant investigating the robbery John committed!]]
18	* CrazyPrepared: Warwick's home is rigged this way, which fits both his personality and his, well, craziness.
19	* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the [[HostageSituation home invasion]] genre.
20	* HealthcareMotivation: John, to pay for an operation for his girlfriend [[spoiler:who was faking the whole thing]],
21	* HemoErotic: Warwick, with himself and with others [[spoiler:forcibly, though it's not clear if he ever really wounds and kills his guests]].
22	* ShownTheirWork: John tries to get refuge in a Jehovah's Witness woman's home by claiming he's also a Witness. She instantly sees through this though as he uses having a cross to prove this — Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe in them. It's a detail most people don't know about.
23	* SlippingAMickey: Throughout most of the night.
24	* StrawmanPolitical: Warwick takes inappropriate opportunities to share some extreme conservative views, which are either met with awkward silence or renounced by other characters.
25	* SubvertedTrope: The film gives a unique twist to many thriller and horror tropes and scenes.
26	* ThirdActStupidity:
27	** John passes up an opportunity to leave for a seemingly [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim foolproof opportunity to kill Warwick]].
28	** Warwick snaps an incriminating Polaroid and leaves it with John for no discernible reason, other than perhaps to give John something to blackmail him with later (which is exactly what happens).
29	* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: The difference between Warwick's perception and reality is made very clear, often [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]].
30	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trailer establishes the plot of 2/3 of the movie, namely that [[spoiler:Warwick drugs John for the dinner party, although it never shows that all of the guests are imaginary]].
31	* WasItAllALie: John doesn't even need to ask when he realizes [[spoiler:Simone double-crossed him to steal the money]].
32	* YouWouldntShootMe: John says this at the end [[spoiler:to Warwick who, despite being AxCrazy, suspiciously doesn't follow through with most of his threats of violence]].

Context Film / ThePerfectHost