The Perfect Host (2011)

“The Perfect Host” is a home-invasion flick – I have seen several recently, why I don’t know - - that flips the genre rules with pitch-black comedy galore, before a third-act switcheroo stumbles hard and fast. We open on a guy (Clayne Crawford) who’s just used a silly Hunter S. Thompson disguise to rob a L.A. bank, only to get robbed by a young woman at a drug store. The flummoxed guy then decides to crash a nearby house, taking a hostage. He choices an artsy-fartsy home owned by a waif of a man (David Hyde Pierce of “Frasier”) who starts out prissy weak and then evolves ape shit crazy. Oops. I won’t say more, except to repeat that the ending tanks with a character reveal that thuds like a bad game of telephone. Pearce lets loose with a twisted grin, purposefully playing off the Niles we all love. If writer/ director Nick Tomnay’s Sundance hit ended 20 minutes sooner, it could have been perfectly fun. B-

Trespass (2011)

“Trespass” is a clichéd home-invasion thriller ransacked by such bad acting, inane dialogue and crap pacing that made me wish the invading thugs out to steal diamonds and cash would just pop the miserable husband and wife played by Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman. The film – dumped in theaters and put on DVD within a single month -- vibes wrong from the start as Cage, wearing a ridiculous suit and sporting a ridiculous car, pulls into a driveway of a mansion so ridiculously ugly-ass-retro, it can mean only one thing: Joel Schumacher is directing. And he is. When the four villains arrive, we get a potluck of dysfunctional hilarity: Mommy issues, sibling rivalry, a crush on the Mrs., missed meds, steroidal rage, and a meth addict with a ball gown fetish. Cage and Kidman are so lacking in chemistry, they can’t even fake a miserable marriage. It’s not shocking to see Cage starring in junk, but one wonders if all the onscreen crying by Kidman – in a weak role -- isn’t really her mourning a wayward career. D+