The Perfect Guy
The opening scene shows Leah (Sanaa Lathan) getting dressed for work. Her boyfriend Dave (Morris Chestnut) is still in bed. She kisses him, and he tells her to get back into bed, but she's late for work. She reminds him of a party they are attending that evening.At a coffee shop, Leah orders an iced coffee while catching the eye of a handsome guy further down the counter. They smile. The clerk hands the guy his iced coffee while Leah also reaches for the same cup. He tells her to take it, his pleasure. She blushes and walks away forgetting the coffee. The takes the cup, clearly flustered.That night at the party celebrating their friends wedding anniversary, Leah notices the interaction between Dave and their friends son. Back at home, Leah brings up the topic of marriage and kids. Apparently Dave isn't ready for marriage or kids, and they've agreed not to bring it up again. When they cant come to an agreement, Leah asks him to leave and the split up.Leah throws herself into work in an effort to forget about Dave.One night Leah is meeting her friend Karen for dinner. She's waiting at the bar and receives a text from Karen that her son is sick, and she cant make it. A man approaches her and offers to buy her a drink. She points to her drink and says she already has one. He asks if she's waiting for someone, and she says, yes, my boyfriend. The man persists and asks her to just leave with him instead, she declines, and he continues to bother her. She then hears a mans voice ask if shes been waiting long. Its the guy from the coffee shop. He turns to the bothersome guy and asks, why are you still standing here. The guy finally leaves.Leah thanks, the man, Carter Duncan (Michael Ely) and he says don't mention it. She offers to buy him a drink, and he declines stating hes with co-workers, and they're about to leave. She says "well now, I'm twice in your debt", reminding him of the coffee shop. Next scene, they're having dinner and getting to know each other. There is an obvious attraction. After dinner, they share a passionate kiss, and he gives her his card.The next day at work, Carter phones Leah and she is surprised that he found her. He reminds her that he is an IT specialist. He asks to see her again and takes her to a steamy Reggae club where they dance erotically and end up having sex in the restroom. That night, Leah forgets her keys and retrieves the spare key from a fake rock in her yard. Her neighbor Mrs. McCarthy (Tess Harper) comes out, and Leah introduces Carter as her boyfriend.As their relationship progresses, Leah invites Carter to spend the weekend with her family in San Francisco. There he bonds with her parents by taking her father (Charles Dutton) to a baseball game. Her mother insists that the two sleep in separate rooms and Leah attempts to sneak into Carter's bed. He tells her to respect her parents and sends her back to her own room. This only serves to endear him to Leah.Returning home from San Francisco, Carter professes his love to Leah. Stopping at a gas station, a man compliments Leah about Carter's Dodge Charger. Carter watching from inside the station thinks the man is flirting with Leah. He storms out and viciously attacks the man, beating him to a pulp while Leah screams. He yells at Leah to get into the car when the station's owner orders them to leave at gunpoint saying he's called the police. Leah tells him she needs time, despite his apologies.She later meets Carter for dinner and explains it's over. Carter becomes increasingly agitated and finally slams the table when Leah refuses his efforts to apologize.Over the next several weeks, Carter stalks Leah at her job and her home while calling her non-stop. Despite changing her phone number, Carter continues to call and harass her. Unbeknownst to her, he has been inside her house using the spare house key. He weirdly drinks from a used wine glass and sucks her toothbrush. He also hacks into her computer and steals her cat.At the advice of her friends, she go to the police and meets with Detective Hansen (Holt McCallany). He advises her to notate all future attempts he makes to contact her as this will help her case for a restraining order. Hansen feels something isn't right with Carter and orders a detective to pull his file.Leaving her office one night, Leah finds a single red rose and a note that says, "If I cant have you, no one will." The next morning, a restraining order is served to Carter at his job, and he is subsequently fired.One day Dave calls Leah and tells her he'd like to see her. They meet, and he tells her he has missed her and wants to reconcile. Leah happily agrees. She tells Dave about Carter. One night at dinner, when Leah and Dave are seated, she sees Carter watching them from the bar area. Dave approaches him, and after Carter makes an inappropriate remark about Leah, Dave warns him never to contact her again.Leah again notifies the police and after Hansen brings Carter into the station over the violation of the restraining order. Carter states the restaurant is a public place and in fact, Dave threatened him and if anyone should need a protective order, its him. Before he leaves, Hansen gets physical with Carter and tells him he should be more careful.One night, while Carter is installing cameras inside Leah's house, her neighbor, Mrs. McCarthy walks in and asks what he's doing. He says Leah asked him to come and check on some things, but Mrs. McCarthy says she thought they'd broken up. As he approaches her menacingly, she runs back to her home with Carter hot on her heels. She manages to lock the front door, but Carter grabs her from behind. They struggle toward the basement, and Carter kills her by pushing her down the stairs, causing her to break her neck.A week later, the body is discovered when Mrs. McCarthy's daughter calls the police. Leah sees the crime scene and is visibly distraught when informed of her neighbors death.At his home, via the cameras he watches over Leah and Dave as they sleep and make love. The most disturbing of all is while they are making love, Carter is under Leah's bed listening.The next day at work, Leah's bosses advises her an email containing a video of her and Dave having sex was sent to all the employees and business associates. Leah pleads with her boss, but he suspends her anyway.While in bed, Leah gives Dave a birthday present purchased before their breakup. Its a watch engraved with I will always love you, Leah. Dave says he will never take it off. The next day Dace has a business meeting in Santa Barbara and while there, Carter sabotages David's car by loosening all the lug nuts on his tire. While driving the curved hills, Dace loses control of the car as the wheel loosens, causing it to flip down a hill and seriously injure him. Carter has been closely following him and after the wreck, he goes down to the wreckage and kills the Dave by suffocating him. He also removes Dave's watch.Meanwhile, Leah has been frantically calling Dave, and she falls asleep waiting for him. Hansen and another detective arrive at Leah's home to tell her of Dave's death. Leah collapses in his arms.After the funeral, Leah returns home and falls asleep fully dressed. When she awakens, Dave's watch is on the nightstand.Leah is convinced Carter is involved, but there are no prints anywhere, and Hansen advises her there is no evidence proving otherwise. After investigating Carter, Hansen has learned that Carter is not his real name, and that he changed his identity after a similar series of harassment. He also tells Leah that Carter was shuffled from foster home to foster home and everything he told her is a lie.He tells Leah its his coffee break, and she is furious. She follows him to a coffee shop where he tells her a story about a person who kept getting robbed. This guy bought a 12 gauge shotgun and put two bean packs in the first rounds and shells in the remaining rounds. When she asks why, he tells her the first two are a warning. He tells her she may be forced to take care of him on her own. We then see Leah buying a shotgun.Leah spots Carter with another woman and approaches the couple. She tells the woman everything Carter has done to her and advises her to run and run fast, which the woman does. Leah then files another restraining order against him and delivers it to his new boss herself, again getting him fired. Furious, Carter kicks the trash can as he's leaving his office.While following him, she finds his apartment and breaks in using a crowbar. There she finds all his computer monitors as well as her cat. Unable to crack the password, using a bat, she destroys all his computers and trashes the apartment. She then spray paints, Not good enough bring it bitch on the wall.That night, Carter breaks into Leah's home. He hears the shower running and enters the bathroom. The steam makes it impossible to see into the shower stall, but Carter hears the shotgun cock behind him. He turns to see Leah aiming the gun at him. Hesitating to shoot, Carter manages to get the gun away from Leah. The two fight and Carter slings Leah from room to room against the walls. He throws her down the stairs, and the two continue the fight in the kitchen. Leah is able to grab a knife and slash Carter once before he gets the knife away. Using pots on the stove, Leah finally incapacitates him enough to grab the shotgun. Carter dares her to shoot him and continues to advance; Leah shoots him with the bean-bag ammo twice in an attempt to immobilize him. When he asks her what that was, she says a warning. As he continues to advance, she shoots him with an actual shell, killing him sending him crashing back and shattering the glass top coffee table.A beaten and bloodied Leah enters the police department asking for Hansen. She lays the gun on his desk and says "I'd like to report an intruder". The last scene is the police removing Carter's body from Leah's home.
murder