moonspinner55 Review of Picture Perfect

Picture Perfect (1997)

So out of touch with reality, it might resemble something created by alien beings...

[3/10 · 15 December 2008]

Desperately-single advertising employee, who apparently lands all the biggest accounts for the firm based on her sheer talent and drive, is passed over for a promotion because she lives her life like "a college student"; her gal-pal invents a fiancée for her friend, but soon this unkissed honeybunch has to pony up her non-existent boyfriend for a big dinner with the boss. "Picture Perfect" wasn't made to be thought-provoking or insightful--it exists purely to charm and amuse. Unfortunately, there's nothing charming nor amusing about the central idea in this witless script (that a woman who isn't married isn't taking her life seriously, and is therefore not a likely candidate for better pay at work). Jennifer Aniston struggles with creating a character out of absolutely nothing; she has a few nice, quiet moments, but her big scenes fall flat because the writing and directing are so bad. Jay Mohr, as a video-photographer for weddings, probably comes off the best here, even though there are no romantic sparks between him and Aniston (they seem more like brother and sister). Once again, Illeana Douglas is wasted in a second-banana role (she begins the movie calling the shots but then simply evaporates); Kevin Bacon has it even worse in a himbo role (and his long hair looks really unprofessional for an account executive in New York City!). The production values and technical aspects of the film are passable, yet the sitcom set-up renders the picture utterly false. Aniston comes up with an ad campaign to put Cindy Crawford together with a bottle of mustard--but we never get to see the visual results of this! Director and co-writer Glenn Gordon Caron acts like he's working for the Lifetime Network. No wonder 20th Century-Fox pretty much threw this one away. *1/2 from ****