Picture Perfect

“Friends” veteran Jennifer Aniston teams up with (six degrees of) Kevin Bacon in this risky romantic comedy about a girl who just can’t seem to get it right with men.

Kate (Aniston) works at an advertising firm where she quickly finds out that in order to advance in the company, she needs to show that she’s dependable and stable. To “help Kate out,” one of her friends at the company starts a rumor that Kate is engaged to a guy that she has met only once and hardly knows. Immediately, Kate moves up the corporate ladder just in time to be hit on by a man in the company who has never previously shown any interest in her. The steam heats up as their relationship escalates, the man believing that Kate is really engaged to this other guy. Everything is going according to plan, until some folks at the firm actually want to meet Kate’s supposed fiancee. This is where the real ride begins, and some very humorous situations arise throughout the rest of the movie.

“Picture Perfect” is cute, clever, funny, and Jennifer Aniston shows herself to be an excellent actress. Despite all this, I have to say that “Picture Perfect” is definitely not… perfect. For starters, the opening scene begins rather abruptly, as Kate is making out with some guy in his apartment. She makes the right move, though, when she decides to leave at his mention of sex.

Kevin Bacon plays his usual self in this film—always looking for another woman to score with. Kate happens to be the one that he does the scoring with in this movie—there are at least a couple scenes where sex is implied (mom and dad—don’t rent this one for the kids). I know I sound like a traditionalist (because I am one), but the casual attitude that “Picture Perfect” takes towards sex is frustrating. Kate’s character does seem to have some moral standards (about lying, sex, and the clothes she wears), but they definitely aren’t up to par with biblical standards. She also has a pretty foul mouth when she’s angry.

The best thing about “Picture Perfect” is the statement that it makes about love relationships. “Picture Perfect” seems to say that true love is about friendship, and not about sex. That certainly is true, and that is as close to perfect as this film gets.