The Perfect Neighbor

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The Perfect Neighbor

R

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1h 36m

Documentary

Crime

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Popcornmeter

99%

Tomatometer

94 Reviews

81%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

A seemingly minor neighborhood dispute in Florida escalates into deadly violence. Police bodycam footage and investigative interviews expose the consequences of Florida's "stand your ground" laws.

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Critics Consensus

As gripping as it is deeply unsettling, The Perfect Neighbor lays bare the systemic failures and the quiet terror embedded in American legal systems with surgical precision.

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Tim Cogshell

FilmWeek (LAist)

Nov 11

Extremely powerful and extremely important documentary filmmaking.

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Sam Adams

Slate

Nov 4

A chilling and provocative look at the limits of policing, particularly when the laws the police are called to enforce present more of a problem than a solution.

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Peter Travers

The Travers Take

Oct 31

3.5/4

Captured entirely from police cam footage, this Oscar-buzzed documentary about a white Florida woman who murders her Black neighbor indicts an entire society. It's also the scariest movie you’ll see this Halloween season.

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Jayne Nelson

Radio Times

3d

5/5

It's a difficult watch, but a true feat of documentary film-making: a howl of escalating fury captured, with deceptive simplicity, by law-enforcement officers who sadly failed to connect the dots.

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Collin Garbarino

WORLD

Jan 30

The archival footage is stitched together seamlessly, which makes watching The Perfect Neighbor an eerily compelling experience.

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Marlon Wallace

The M Report (WBOC.com)

Jan 7

...the argument has to be made that the killer has some kind of racial bias. Sometimes, if not most times, that bias or racism can be difficult to prove. With this film, it's actually easy to prove.

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Madison W.

@BaddieMaddie 21h

This was absolutely heartbreaking! I am still thinking about it!

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Lucas D

@Lucas.Dorner 1d

Obviously a tragic story and the moment the kids heard about their mother's loss broke me , however I don't really see what the director did, it was mostly body-cam-footage , still a good documentary

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Cath Z

@Tinie 2d

I thought it was so irritating. The cops who did nothing. Even support the kids sometimes. I thought many times why don’t this people build a fence around the houses. I think the kids played sweet but they wheren’t as sweet as they act. The white women didnt go to the neighbour houses. didnt knock on the door. Didnt yell in front of their houses as maybe the youngest child sleep. She called the police. She kept distance. The only thing against her I can say why she went to live there while they where so many families living. But I can understand as you are in your home you don’t want children yell whole day in front of your door. Police and mother had better learned the children to keep distance, listen to a rule of someone and respect it. Even mum could call the police instead go to the women house. And at the end they act like they where all holy. Police could know that one time this should went wrong. I think in this case all where responsabele. Now two lives end.

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Dean E

2d

Presented mostly through body-cam footage, The Perfect Neighbor tells the story of a racist white woman driven to murder by her mostly-black neighborhood kids playing around her property. A pretty good example of the world we live in today.

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Michael Z.

@zigchaff13 4d

Very well crafted theatrically, although its reality is saddening & dismal. I would have given it five out of five if it weren’t for the opportunistic appearance of Al Sharpton at the end.

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Jonathan K

@aFIREintheattic 5d

Devastating and infuriating. That's all I got. Pretty messed up by this.

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Geeta Gandbhir

Director

Nikon Kwantu

Producer

Geeta Gandbhir

Producer

Alisa Payne

Producer

Sam Bisbee

Producer

Sam Pollard

Executive Producer

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Synopsis

A seemingly minor neighborhood dispute in Florida escalates into deadly violence. Police bodycam footage and investigative interviews expose the consequences of Florida's "stand your ground" laws.

Director: Geeta Gandbhir
Producer: Nikon Kwantu, Geeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Sam Bisbee
Distributor: Netflix
Production Co: Message Pictures
Rating: R (Language)
Genre: Documentary, Crime
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 10, 2025, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 17, 2025
Runtime: 1h 36m

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