A
film review by James Berardinelli for ReelViews.net, August, 1997.
As
I've said before, predictability can often be a great asset for a romantic
comedy. So far this summer, we've had three very atypical entries: 'Til There Was You (where the man and woman
don't meet until the end), Addicted to
Love (a revenge fantasy), and My Best
Friend's Wedding (where not everything goes as expected). Now, August
ushers in Picture Perfect, a harmless
movie intent upon restoring formulaic comfort to the genre. There's nothing
remotely surprising about this movie, unless it's how embarrassingly bad the
resolution is.
For
eighty minutes of Picture Perfect's
one-hundred minute running time, I found myself smiling quite often. As obvious
and unambitious as the film was, I actually liked it, and was prepared to file
it in the guilty pleasures category.
Then came the horrible one-two punch of the climax. I was flabbergasted. My
smile turned into a cringe. There are times when a bad ending doesn't seriously
damage a motion picture. This is not one of those. All of the goodwill I had
built up during the bulk of the film was replaced by irritation at the silly,
contrived conclusion. And the worst part is that the movie could easily have
achieved the same resolution in a far more satisfactory manner. Apparently,
director and co-screenwriter Glenn
Gordon Caron prefers high melodrama to something more low-key.
It's
a shame, because the ill-advised finale puts a damper on Jennifer Aniston's first starring role in a major motion picture
(we'll ignore Leprechaun, which is
probably what she'd prefer that we do). I've never been a big fan of Aniston in
her TV series, Friends, but she's
very good in the role of Picture Perfect's
protagonist. As Kate, she's smart, witty, and appealing, yet manages to convey
a degree of vulnerability, uncertainty, and downright nastiness. In short, she
shows the beginnings of three dimensionality.
Kate
is a junior agent for Mercer Advertising. She has a quick mind, but, even after
she devises the tag line for a major ad campaign, she is passed over as a
member of the account team. The reason: she's too much of a free spirit. The
boss, Mr. Mercer (Kevin Dunn), wants
someone who's married with children and a mortgage and is not likely to move to
another agency, taking a client with them, not a single woman whose lifestyle
mirrors the one she had when she was in college. So, while Kate is venting her
frustration in the lavatory (this one scene single-handedly earns the movie a
PG-13 rating), her best friend, Darcy (Illeana
Douglas), concocts a story to advance Kate's career. Using a photo of Kate
with a guy named Nick (Jay Mohr),
whom she only met once – at a wedding, Darcy spins a tale to her boss about
Kate's impending nuptials. Mercer immediately softens his stance and puts Kate
on the team.
Although
Kate is initially horrified by Darcy's fabrication, she soon learns to
appreciate its advantages. A co-worker, Sam (Kevin Bacon), who will only sleep with married or engaged women,
suddenly finds Kate irresistible. Everything seems to be going right until
Mercer has to meet Nick, who’s become a hero after saving a child from a
burning building. Unable to string her boss along any longer, Kate travels to Boston,
finds Nick and offers him a proposition: she'll pay him $1000 if he comes to
New York with her, takes her to dinner, and then stages a public break-up.
Nick, who’s attracted to Kate and willing to jump at any chance to spend time
with her, agrees.
For
the most part, Picture Perfect has a
nice, light romantic mood. Caron, who wrote for the TV series Moonlighting and directed the Warren
Beatty/Annette Bening remake of Love
Affair, clearly has a feel for love stories. Early in the film, during a
wedding sequence, the camera subtly captures the bliss of being in a couple and
the loneliness of being single. This idealized view of romance is then used as
the springboard to the movie's central plot. The movie ends with another
wedding, but the less said about that, the better.
Aniston
is ably supported by a group of fine actors. Kevin Bacon is delightful as Sam,
a man who enjoys one-night stands with unavailable women, then finds that he
may be falling for Kate. Olympia Dukakis
has a few amusing scenes as Kate's overprotective mother. Illeana Douglas is
delightful as the effervescent Darcy. And Jay Mohr is solid, if unspectacular,
as Nick (some viewers may have difficulty erasing the memory of him as the oily
agent from Jerry Maguire).
In
general, I consider myself to be a defender of romantic comedies, even if
they're not terribly original. There's something refreshing about that kind of
pure escapism. Unfortunately, Picture
Perfect uses embarrassing contrivances to sabotage what should have been a
pleasant excursion down a familiar road. Still, even considering its flaws, I
think a certain percentage of die-hard romantics will derive some satisfaction
from this movie. I wish I had been in that category, but Picture Perfect makes a few too many missteps to earn my
recommendation. [Berardinelli’s rating: **½ out of 4 stars]
Labels:
comedy, drama, romance
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