With 2015’s The Perfect Guy, we take a look at the dark side of romantic obsession. Leah Vaughn (Sanaa Lathan) enjoys a successful career as a lobbyist, but her personal life hits a snarl when she ends her relationship with long-time boyfriend David King (Morris Chestnut) due to his refusal to commit.

Leah’s love life quickly peps up, though, when she dates Carter Duncan (Michael Ealy), a handsome, charming IT professional she first encounters at a coffee shop. They launch into a passionate romance that seems great at first. However, complications ensue that indicate Carter may not be as good as he seems.

None of that creates a set-up for an especially original tale, as we’ve seen plenty of movies that present “perfect guys” – or gals - who turn out to be much less wonderful than they appear. Of course, by “less wonderful”, I mean “complete nutbags”.

I really don’t mind the lack of plot originality, as I think films with well-worn narratives can succeed. However, those movies need more creativity and logic than we find in the plodding Guy.

On the positive side, I like Ealy’s performance as Carter. Because we saw the movie’s synopsis, we’re well aware he’ll turn out to be a psycho, but Ealy doesn’t overplay this side of the character.

This seems especially important during the movie’s first act. Too many actors telegraph the insanity in their characters, and those choices make us question the behavior of the protagonist. If the viewer can tell that the “perfect guy” is nuts, why can’t the lead?

Ealy makes sure that Carter comes across as nice but not unctuous. He creates a sweet, likable personality without a sense of insincerity or implied menace. Even when we see small sparks of the character’s sinister side – such as when Carter calls Leah a “slut” and a “floozy” – it comes across more as playful than threatening.

Unfortunately, Guy squanders Ealy’s performance because it forces Carter to change his tune too quickly. Rather than allow his psychoses to emerge gradually, Carter goes emotionally kablooey in a hurry.

I don’t like this choice because it eliminates most of the suspense. A more involving film would build the drama slowly and tease the audience that way, whereas Guy lays it all on the line early in the tale.

Not only does that choice damage the movie’s tension, but it also forces the characters to act like idiots. Granted, many films of this sort require moronic actions from the participants to progress, but Guy goes too far in that regard.

In particular, Leah has to behave illogically and irresponsibly to keep the narrative in motion. This makes the viewer less sympathetic to her plight, as she seems like too much of a dope for us to care about her.

In addition, the choice to make Guy a “PG-13” effort perplexes me. I can’t imagine many 14-year-olds will see a movie like this, so why not go for the “R” that a steamy psycho-drama usually demands? With the more gentle rating, Guy tends to pull punches that rob it of the intensity an “R” could deliver.

None of these factors turn The Perfect Guy a truly bad movie. Even with its flaws, it remains watchable and professional. It simply lacks much to make it more than that, so it ends up as a mediocre genre effort without anything to elevate it above its peers.

The Perfect Guy appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though not stunning, the transfer looked pretty positive.

Sharpness seemed fine. Interiors could seem a little soft, but not to an extreme. Instead, most of the movie provided detailed, accurate imagery. No issues with jaggies or moiré effects occurred, and I witnessed no edge haloes. Print flaws failed to mar the presentation.

In terms of colors, Guy went with a teal and orange feel. This was semi-expected from a modern thriller; it’s unoriginal but typical of the genre circa 2015. The hues worked well within those limitations. Blacks seemed deep enough, and shadows mostly showed good smoothness, even with the hint of softness in some of those shots. This wasn’t a great image, but it seemed more than adequate.

In addition, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack fit the material. It used all the channels to give us music, and appropriate effects cropped up around the spectrum in a convincing manner. Those elements meshed together in a concise way and helped give us a pleasing sense of places and events. Nothing especially memorable occurred, but the soundscape opened up the material well. A car crash offered the most dynamic segment; otherwise, the mix usually stayed with ambience.

Audio quality satisfied. Music was bright and bold, while speech came across as natural and distinctive. Effects seemed accurate and dynamic, with clean highs and deep lows. The track worked fine for the material.

A featurette called Lust and Obsession runs 10 minutes, 18 seconds. It presents comments from director David M. Rosenthal, director of photography Peter Simonite, chief lighting technician Jim Plannette, stunt coordinator Lance Gilbert, and actors Sanaa Lathan, Michael Ealy and Morris Chestnut. “Lust” looks at story/character areas, cast and performances, stylistic choices, cinematography, stunts and action. A perfunctory piece, “Lust” offers basics but not more than that. It also comes with spoilers, so skip it until you’ve seen the film.

The disc opens with ads for The War Room, The Walk, Think Like a Man Too and No Good Deed. No trailer for Guy appears here.

Perfectly average, The Perfect Guy comes with some positives, but it undercuts these with groan-inducing flaws. Though the movie occasionally entertains, it ends up as a largely forgettable thriller. The Blu-ray presents mostly good picture and audio but it lacks substantial bonus materials. This is the kind of flick you watch to pass a lazy Saturday when you can’t find anything better on TV.