Picture Perfect Synopsis: A young advertising executive’s life becomes increasingly complicated when, in order to impress her boss, she pretends to be engaged to a man she has just met.
Kate (Jennifer Aniston) is a career-driven woman desperate to move up the ladder in her marketing firm. When she finds out her boss is more likely to promote married employees, she’s convinced by her best friend to use a photo of an acquaintance named Nick (Jay Mohr) and claim he’s her fiancé. When Nick becomes famous for saving a little girl in a fire, Kate’s boss wants to meet him, so Kate has to track the man down and bribe him into being her fiancé until they can stage a proper break-up.
I tend to love the fake dating trope. If it’s done correctly, it can be really fun and romantic, deception and silliness aside. Unfortunately, I found Picture Perfect to be a bit bland. With a better script, it might have been an entertaining romantic comedy while touching on the ridiculously outdated notion that women must be wives and mothers to show their value. Instead, it chugs along aimlessly with a contrived plot and two leads lacking chemistry.
Picture Perfect was one of Jennifer Aniston’s first films after Friends blew up in the ’90s. It’s evident in the movie that she had a lot of potential star power. She successfully goes toe to toe with seasoned vets like Kevin Bacon and has a really likable screen presence which continues to this day. I think Aniston is what made this movie tolerable, especially her scenes with Bacon’s character Sam, a cad and co-worker who pursues Kate after discovering she’s engaged. I also loved the moments with Olympia Dukakis, who plays Kate’s mother. But I would enjoy Dukakis in just about anything.
In my opinion, the most essential part of a romantic comedy is the romance. If the love story is captivating enough, I’m usually forgiving of the lack of comedic value. Kate and Nick’s romance could have really made this movie work if there had been any chemistry between Jennifer Aniston and Jay Mohr.
I know the two didn’t get along much on set, but I don’t think real-life conflict indicates how appealing a couple will be on screen. Mohr and Aniston had no connection, making the entire movie feel stale. I could see Sam’s jerkish behavior coming a mile away, but I thought Aniston and Bacon together were way more interesting.
Because of that, I found Picture Perfect a mediocre rom-com. Aniston hasn’t had a flawless career, but there are definitely better rom-coms on her resume to check out. Skip this one.
Watched: 04/28/2020
Notable Song: I Try by Macy Gray
Katy
May 9, 2020Good review! I haven’t seen this since I was a teenager, and even then I couldn’t believe the romance between Jay and Jennifer. They did not have any chemistry. Jennifer definitely carries the weight of this one and kind of makes me wish she had romantic comedies that matched her charm.
Sara
May 18, 2020I’m glad I’m not the only one who didn’t buy the romance! And actually, knowing Jennifer wanted Tate Donovan, I think that would have been so much better because they were so fun together when he guest starred on Friends.