LITERAL REMAINS

Cliff and Cydney Anderson are on their honeymoon in Hawaii, jumping island to island, and destined to hike to a remote beach that promises to be paradise on earth.  Cliff is a nebbish screenwriter whose first screenplay is undergoing rewrites by another writer, and Cydney, well, she just seems too hot for dorky Cliff.  He definitely married up.

Amidst all the fun and beauty, there is a spot of trouble.  A serial killer couple is terrorizing the Hawaiian islands, leaving a string of murdered marrieds and couples in their path.  The murderous duo have yet to be apprehended or identified.  While driving along a back road, Cliff stops to pick a couple of hitchhikers, Kale and Cleo.  But Cydney doesn’t like the looks of them, especially the tattooed Kale.  And true, they look like trouble, and talk like trouble, and act like very suspicious.  So Cliff and Cydney deny them a ride, and the tough looking couple don’t take it too well.

Leaving wandering Kale and Cleo behind, Cliff and Cydney make it to the hiking trail.  On the trail they meet Nick, who helps them on the cliffside and accompanies for a few miles.  Nick is an Iraq War veteran, with a metal plate in his head; he is also a little unhinged, and smitten with the idea that Cliff could write a movie about him.

Stopping for a breather, Cliff sees Kale and Cleo, and, wanting to avoid a confrontation, Cliff and Cydney tag along with Nick.  They arrive at a waterfall to find Nick’s girlfriend, Gina, former butcher at a Piggly Wiggly, sunbathing nude.  Another couple means more suspects.  Even though Nick and Gina seem all sorts of possibly being homicidal, Cliff and Cydney decide they will fare better with them than alone, especially with Kale and Cleo lurking about the place.  Nick and Gina have a hospitable form of bonkers.

Who are the killers?

That is answered before long.  The audience knows sooner than Cliff, Cydney, Nick, Gina, Kale, and Cleo.  It’s when the movie confirms our suspicions that it falls apart.

My favorite characters in A Perfect Getaway are Nick (Timothy Olyphant) and the Hawaiian scenery.  Nick is pleasantly demented and morbidly funny, and the scenery is beautiful and breathtaking.  The movie is good in places, such as Nick and Cliff tracking through the forest in the rain looking for whoever has been following them, and a few other scenes are suspenseful, but that last act just ruins it.

Too many red herrings leave a foul taste, but A Perfect Getaway is still enticing.  No matter how silly it becomes, or how much it destroys itself, it’s still watchable.

3.5 out of 5
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