5.16.2008

Picture Perfect (1997)

Maybe they should have renamed this film Not So Picture Perfect as it did disappoint. Let's enumerate how this film failed.

Jennifer Aniston is Kate Mosley, a twenty something dynamo of creativity for a Manhattan advertising agency. Faster than you can say "Madison Avenue," she's masterminding an entire campaign that lands her agency the big bucks deal. So far, I was hooked into the rest of the film. Then, she gets passed over for an obvious and well deserved promotion. When she inquires into why she's being passed over, the crux of it is that she's single, has no debt, and is too mobile- in other words she can change jobs too easily, and is not shackled down tight enough. I was intrigued with Picture Perfect at this point.

What follows goes off the deep end along the way. Kate then decides to remedy this apparent "defect" and gets some guy to pose as her fiancee. He is Nick, the wedding videographer played by Jay Mohr, a man she met at a friend's wedding. The doors now seem to be opening up for her both professionally and personally. On the work front, her boss now takes her more seriously, and she is meeting the right people and the glass ceiling has opened. Personally, coworker Sam (Kevin Bacon), who didn't look at her twice when she was available, now has a romantic interest in her.

While the almost ritualistic formula for this type of romantic comedy is setup in the plot, Picture Perfect falls short. The characters are all unidimensional, and felt better suited for a half hour second rate comedy than the silver screen. It also isn't too humorous as a comedy, and not terribly romantic either. With so many films out there Picture Perfect just isn't that strong of an entry.

Overall Grade: C

Reviewed by Jonas

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