kate ( jennifer aniston ) is having some problems .
it appears the twenty - eight year old is not happy with her slow progression up the company ladder , and her love life apparently leaves something to be desired .
she learns that her problems are related , as the owner of her advertising agency , mr .
mercer ( kevin dunn ) , explains to her that her single status does not bode well with the company .
her freedom would make her more likely to leave the company , taking clients with her .
a solution presents itself in nick ( jay mohr ) , a wedding videographer who kate meets through a coincidence and gets photographed with .
kate 's boss , darcy ( illeana douglas ) , uses the photograph to fabricate a wedding engagement between kate and nick .
kate is at first repulsed by the idea , but after getting immediate positive results , she pursues it .
her first task is to convince nick to go along with her plan .
the actual plan consists of nick pretending to be her fianc ? .
at a dinner with kate 's bosses he will provoke a fight and they will break up .
she meets nick to propose the plan .
he accepts .
kate 's new status brings unexpected results in other areas .
the office bad boy , sam ( kevin bacon ) , who would n't give kate the time of day , now does .
now that she is engaged , he pursues an affair with her , as doing so would destroy her good girl image , hence sam 's sudden interest .
things start to fall apart for kate , as it becomes apparent that nick really likes her , and does not wish to break up with her .
after some provoking nick does oblige , but problems continue for kate .
it appears sam is no longer interested now that she is available .
or maybe kate does like nick , but " reconciliation " will force her to admit her lies to her employer .
adding to her mess is the constant prying of her mother ( olympia dukakis ) , who wants her to get married and settle down .
there is a scene in this movie where jennifer aniston is ( from the waist up ) only wearing a bra .
it made me chuckle because it is the only time in the movie when she actually wears one .
there is enough cleavage in this movie to satisfy russ meyer .
it 's like the director said ' well ,
we know the story is formulaic and the performances are n't that great
so , what the heck , let 's show jennifer 's assets as often and as uncovered as humanly possible to keep the pg rating .
" quite frankly it 's insulting .
i do n't think aniston is a competent enough actress to carry a movie .
she did a decent enough job in ed burns '
" she 's the one " because it was a smaller and supporting role , and she just does n't deliver the goods effectively in this movie .
her performance was not convincing .
unfortunately , as far as romantic comedies go , this movie adds nothing new to the standard formula for these types of movies .
the film is similar to " my best friends wedding " in a sense that the leading female character is actually quite vindictive and due her actions , gets no sympathy from me when things go awry .
i did n't care for how quickly kate puts down nick 's profession by explaining that videotaping weddings was n't glamorous enough for her co - workers .
at least " my best friends wedding " changed the formula a bit and had a somewhat surprise ending .
no such luck with " picture perfect " .
every plot occurrence can be spotted a mile away , including a couple that really made no sense .
after everything kate had done to prove her loyalty to her company , why would she blindly throw it all away when she should have made sure that nick would even talk to her first , let alone consider a relationship ?
was quitting her job a prerequisite to making amends with nick ?
throw in the fact that i do n't think nick and kate spent enough time together to even warrant that rash of a decision .
i believe that kate liked him , but liked him so intensely that she was willing to throw her career away ?
i doubt it .
and what of the ending scene at a wedding where the entire congregation feels it necessary to stop everything and stare at the couple ? are mass groups of people simultaneously that interested in total strangers ?
well , i guess of the congregation consists of movie extras and the strangers are the movies two lead stars
, then that would make sense .
picture perfect directed by glenn gordon caron kate .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jennifer aniston nick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jay mohr sam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
kevin bacon mercer .
. .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . kevin dunn darcy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
illeana douglas rita .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . olympia dukakis written by randy turgeon , february 26 , 1998 .
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