Picture Perfect (1997)

The preposterous plot goes something like this:  a young lady who 
works in an advertising agency (Jennifer Aniston) is told by her 
boss, in so many words and with witnesses present, that she won't 
get any further in the firm because she (a.) isn't married and (b.) 
isn't planning to have kids.  Instead of contacting a lawyer, to 
investigate her options-- or a hairdresser, to get those damn bangs 
cut-- she perpetuates this story about a fiancee she doesn't have 
(Jay Mohr, the guy who fires Tom Cruise in JERRY MAGUIRE), so she 
can get promoted *and* get into the pants of a co-worker (Kevin 
Bacon, looking almost forty) who, get this, is only interested in 
her if she's attached to someone *else*.  All of which, duh, leads 
to a romance with the faux boyfriend, who, I guess, finds her 
meticulous lying to be rather endearing.  Calling Dr. Laura! 

Okay, okay, I'll admit that Ms. Aniston has better comic chops than 
I expected.  And a few scenes are justifiably LOL funny.  (And, at 
times, unintentionally so.  I don't know when I laughed harder:  at 
the statement that Aniston and Illeana Douglas are playing char-
acters supposedly the same age, or when the ghoulish-looking Kevin 
Bacon is referred to as a "really beautiful man.")  Pure nonsense, 
but it's easy on the brain.  And, for some of us, *exceptionally* 
easy on the eyes.  Director Glenn Gordon Caron (LOVE AFFAIR, CLEAN 
AND SOBER) parades Ms. Aniston around in a number of low-cut dres-
ses, including one garish green gown that looks like a leftover 
from ROMY AND MICHELE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION.  Guys, if your girl-
friend picks this week's flick, just sit back, relax, and enjoy 
that woody.  (Rated "PG-13"/102 min.)

Grade: C-

Copyright 1997 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies in MOVIE HELL: August 7, 1997