When A Perfect Getaway opened in theatres last year, I paid it very little attention. It looked like your typical forgettable late-summer cheapo thriller and the fact that it starred Milla Jovovich, whose recent filmography is just terrible, and Steve Zahn, who I like but who’s been totally off the radar for most of the decade, didn’t exactly help either. But when a friend, Toronto-based film critic Adam Nayman, insisted that I see it and went on at length about how much he’d enjoyed the film, my interest was piqued.

Written and directed by David Twohy (best known for the Riddick movies), A Perfect Getaway features Jovovich and Zahn as a happy couple who find the perfect honeymoon spot on an idyllic Hawaiian island, where they plan to hike a gorgeous nature trail. When they get there, they hear reports that another pair of honeymooners have been mysteriously murdered—just as they run into two other couples (Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez, Marley Shelton and Chris Hemsworth), both of whom are weirdly threatening or secretive. I won’t say any more, but the film plays out as a cracking little thriller. The writing is clever and funny and it never really insults the audience’s intelligence and it’s always good to see Olyphant in a role that takes advantage of his cocky charm. I don’t think this would have made it on my top 10 of 2009 if I’d seen it last year, but it’d make a fantastic rental.

The teen movie renaissance of the late ’90s produced a couple of real gems. Sadly and strangely, stars of two of the genre’s true highlights are no longer with us: Brittany Murphy, who was so great in Clueless, and Heath Ledger, who first made his mark in the charming 10 Things I Hate About You playing opposite Julia Stiles. The latter is out on DVD and Blu-Ray this week, with new test footage of the young Aussie.