A PERFECT GETAWAY
An expertly layered thriller that belongs with discerning adults.
Should You Watch It?
A PERFECT GETAWAY is a well-made thriller with a script that keeps you guessing. The performances are terrific, especially Steve Zahn as Cliff, and the story's references and layers make its many twists especially fun.
The cost is severe. Fights and knife attacks become graphic, and the film also includes partial and rear nudity, plenty of foul language, smoking marijuana, crack cocaine use, and other mixed content. Its moral ideas are not consistently sound, either.
If you are a discerning adult who can handle intense material, this earns its four-star entertainment rating. If you are choosing for children or young teens, this is not the trip for your family.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESNewlyweds Cliff and Cydnie hike through a Hawaiian island jungle for their honeymoon while a murderer runs loose nearby. Along the way, they meet a hitchhiking couple and an ex-Army Ranger with his southern belle girlfriend.
As the couples move through the island, everyone becomes a suspect. Trust shifts, clues accumulate, and red herrings keep both the characters and viewers guessing.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this thriller delivers unusually strong entertainment within its genre. The performances are terrific, especially Steve Zahn as Cliff, because no character is exactly who viewers expect.
The script is amazing for the genre. Its references and layers make the narrative especially fun, and the many twists continue to reveal themselves even after the movie ends. The high production values and strong acting help make this a skillfully constructed mystery.
The Worldview
A PERFECT GETAWAY has a strong, slightly mixed pagan worldview with romantic and moral elements, a biblical reference, light Christian elements, and a negative comment about a preacher. The story includes both positive and negative references to Scripture. One character says that the “wages of sin is death,” while another recalls a preacher saying people would “rot in Hell” if they had sex before marriage.
The film’s moral perspective is therefore mixed rather than clearly biblical. It recognizes sin and consequences, but its references to faith and morality do not consistently offer a sound Christian framework. Betrayal and lying are also part of the film’s moral landscape.
Scripture gives the film’s strongest moral phrase its full context: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Strong, slightly mixed pagan worldview with Romantic elements, moral elements, a biblical reference, light Christian elements, and a negative comment about a preacher, along with some immoral elements; 45 obscenities and seven profanities; very strong violence includes brutal fist fight between two women, two men shot in head with much blood, knife impaled in flesh graphically shown, man’s hand severed and graphically shown, fingertips cut off and graphically shown, knife impales hand into dirt, woman graphically stabbed, goat “field dressed”; a graphic discussion of a sexual encounter; women swim nude though nothing objectionable shown, woman sunbathes nude from side angle, rear female nudity briefly shown, rear male nudity briefly shown; drinking of alcohol from bottle; smoking of cigarettes and marijuana, crack cocaine use; and, betrayal and lying.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
A character says, “The wages of sin is death.” What does Scripture say sin earns, and what gift does God offer instead?
Romans 6:23 · Ephesians 2:8–9The film includes betrayal and lying. Why does truth matter even when deception seems useful?
Ephesians 4:25 · Proverbs 12:22A preacher’s warning about sex before marriage is described negatively. What does Scripture actually teach about sexual holiness and marriage?
1 Thessalonians 4:3–5 · Hebrews 13:4The characters repeatedly decide whom to trust. What qualities should guide Christian discernment about people and claims?
Matthew 7:15–20 · 1 John 4:1The Final Word
A PERFECT GETAWAY earns four stars for its performances, layered script, and clever mystery. But graphic violence and other intense content limit it to discerning adults. For everyone else, choose something safer. Our answer is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY.
