Masterful Movie

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Beth (Radha Mitchell) runs a roadside diner next to a desolate highway. Jack Barrett (Barry Watson) shows up out of nowhere in a dirty car with a surf board on top. Peter (Josh Lucas) and two other guys show up looking for the beach. Jack hides from them claiming they're going to kill him and her.I like the empty roadside diner. I wouldn't mind if the movie stayed there as a minimalist psychological thriller. The movie loses a little something by moving on. It gets muddled and confused by adding too much stuff. I lose some patience by the time of the McGuffin CD. The other thing is that this is noticeably not Oregon. It would even be cooler to set this in New Zealand. The third thing is that this movie needs to take place at night. That would increase the intensity by half. I like the general indie mystery thriller vibe. However it tries to do so many twisty thrills that I don't think they all work.

I'm a dial twitcher & world weary...pretty much have seen it all already. Turned this on TV & watched a little & switched to another channel. Had to turn back...it was that compelling. Highly recommend for all the reasons any of the other reviewers did AND that it held my interest, which is a good enough reason for me to watch anything. Had to suspend belief to buy that this many very good looking people, ESPECIALLY Josh Lucas, who could easily be a candidate to fill the shoes of Paul Newman with those eyes, would be doing such evil things or living such strange lives. Must've been something real important on that CD.

I remember seeing roughly the last half of this movie WHEN STRANGERS APPEAR (2001) years ago on TV thinking one word...UNPREDICTABLE! Having seen it in full recently, I still go with that adjective. The viewer really doesn't know the twist until fairly late into the movie, and then the movie goes from methodical into overdrive! It works mainly because (A) it does an amazing job of infusing realistic doses of humanity into the thriller genre and (B) it is minimalist in it's presentation and (C) it is very well-written and acted. The movie introduces us to Beth (played convincingly by the talented Australian actress Radha Mitchell). Mitchell is one of the very few actresses that has repeatedly been able to draw me into her characters over the last 10 years or so. She always seems to play women that are tough, individualistic, resourceful, that still maintain their femininity (PITCH BLACK, ROGUE, SILENT HILL). There's an authenticity about the way she plays these characters. I find her a lot easier to watch than many "bigger" name actresses. Helps that she's hot as hell, too!Beth runs a diner and motel in a small "Oregon" burg near the beach. One morning opening the diner, a mysterious guy named Jack (Barry Watson in a effectively creepy performance). Jack has a surfboard on his car and seems headed for the beach; Beth is suspicious and grills him for info. Three "surfer" guys show up for breakfast. The "main" guy appears to be Peter (slyly and appealingly played by Josh Lucas). Jack hides out and explains to Beth after they leave that they are out to kill him. A skeptical Beth orders him out, but he has a flesh wound and passes out. She takes him to the local surgeon and then starts to investigate Jack's story. In the meantime, Beth finds herself drawn to Peter. Needless to say, there are several twists and turns along the way.The angle that really caught my attention is the relationship between Beth and Peter, which is very natural and convincing. They seem to really like each other aside from all the twists and turns and I kept thinking that under different circumstances, I could actually see them together! There's an interesting exchange between them near the end that I found to be strangely endearing and believable given the connection between them. Also, I liked the more platonic Beth-Jack relationship; she had an almost maternal instinct when it came to him.Although some of the turns in the story are a tad, shall we say, "convenient", the director times them in a very tongue-in-cheek manner that makes one smile rather than wince. Not to mention the leads Mitchell, Lucas, and Watson do a great job of "selling" the story. The 2 guys with Lucas are kind of underused and underdone as characters, But veteran actor Kevin Anderson gives a very strong turn as the dicey town sheriff Bryce, who has his own rather interesting connection to Beth. Beth's very different interactions with Jack, Peter, and Bryce are a strong point of the film.The ending is very tense, exciting, and ironic (you'll see!). There is a minimalist approach to film-making that I love about this flick as it relies primarily on somewhat lengthy scenes of character interaction and very little of that typical background music you hear in thrillers. The flick also has an otherworldly appeal/supernatural element as it takes place in isolation in the seeming middle of nowhere with VERY FEW people; makes the proceedings all the more scary. It also has that well-known Hitchcockian touch of the Macguffin plot point that in the end is really secondary to the main draw of the film, yet the Macguffin strangely still seems relevant and important somehow at the end...Highly recommended.

When Strangers Appear takes elements from other movies I really like, and combines them to make a really good movie. My only criticism is the sometimes choppy pace, but otherwise this is quite good. Radha Mitchell stars as Beth, a woman who runs a diner in some sparse and isolated Oregon town near the beach. When Jack (Barry Watson) storms in her diner one morning claiming he is on the run from three men, she does not know whether he is telling the truth or if he is a lunatic. The three men show up and complicate things as one of the men, Peter (Josh Lucas), takes an interest in Beth. As the film proceeds, Beth finds herself caught up in the conflict between Jack and the three men and she is unsure of the intentions of any of them.This movie reminds me a little of The Hitcher, as both films are set in isolated areas, have few characters, and have some similar happenings. The score (like in The Hitcher) is more than effective, and the soundtrack is not half bad. Mitchell, Lucas and Watson are the leads and they do a tremendous job. When Strangers Appear has some good visuals too, as the landscapes are beautiful and lush. See this one if you get a chance.