Imagine a TV movie about Rachel from “Friends.” Then imagine Rachel without the funny co-stars. Disgusted? You’ve just dreamed up “Picture Perfect.”
In Jennifer Aniston’s leading-lady debut, she manages to play exactly the same role she does on television, only without the talented writers. From the opening scene, “Picture Perfect” makes the mistake of relying entirely on the situation for laughs, instead of what the characters actually say.
For about five minutes, the situations are funny enough. Then, they get old. Very old. Excepting a couple of formula romantic-comedy scenes, “Picture Perfect” really isn’t that humorous.
The premise: Kate (Aniston) is an up-and-coming star in an advertising company, but her boss (Kevin Dunn) is unwilling to promote her until he sees some structure in her life. At the same time, she has a crush on a co-worker, Sam (Kevin Bacon), who doesn’t want her because she isn’t “bad” enough.
So, to advance her career, another co-worker (Illeana Douglas) shows her boss a picture of Kate and some guy, telling him that the pair are engaged. Seeing this sudden structure, Kate gets her promotion. Simultaneously, Sam becomes attracted to Kate. To Sam, Kate’s boyfriend makes her “bad” enough; Kate thinks Sam has finally come around.
To truly confuse the issue, Kate’s boss wants to have dinner with her new beau. Kate finds the guy in the picture and brings him to town to have dinner. To take advantage of the promotion without the baggage of the made-up fiance, she stages a big fight to happen during dinner.
But, of course, it’s never that easy. The so-called boyfriend, Nick (Jay Mohr) starts to like Kate, and when the relationship is over, Sam becomes disinterested. Nick is utterly charming all the time and, well, the rest is ... predictable.
It’s too bad that Aniston had to be the focus of the film. Bacon’s player character and Mohr’s charming one are much more interesting than Aniston’s. Either the screenwriters didn’t want to deviate from the norm enough to make a compelling movie, or Aniston just doesn’t have the acting chops to pull off a leading role, but the leading lady falls flat.
The only problem with the potentially fascinating supporting characters is the way they are presented. Unfortunately, each of them serve as little more than plot points. When on screen, Mohr is quite good, but is never in the movie unless directly in contact with Aniston. Same goes for co-workers Bacon and Douglas.
Also worth note is Olympia Dukakis’s role as Kate’s mother. While hopelessly stereotypical, she’s quite entertaining.
For her own sake, Aniston needs to stick to supporting roles like she had in “She’s the One” (or, for that matter, in “Friends). For everyone else’s sake, I highly recommend “My Best Friend’s Wedding” over “Picture Perfect.”
Grade: C-