Picture Perfect (1997)

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.

Director:

Glenn Gordon Caron

Writers:

Arleen Sorkin (story), Paul Slansky (story)

Stars:

Jennifer Aniston, Jay Mohr, Kevin Bacon

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jennifer Aniston	...	Kate
Jay Mohr	...	Nick
Kevin Bacon	...	Sam
Olympia Dukakis	...	Rita
Illeana Douglas	...	Darcy
Kevin Dunn	...	Mr. Mercer
Anne Twomey	...	Sela
Faith Prince	...	Mrs. Mercer
John Rothman	...	Jim Davenport
Meg Gibson	...	Mrs. Davenport (as Margaret Gibson)
Paul Cassell	...	Brad
Ivar Brogger	...	1st Ad Executive
Peter McRobbie	...	2nd Ad Executive
Bray Poor	...	3rd Ad Executive
Daryl Edwards	...	4th Ad Executive

Storyline

Kate is working on a career at Mercer Advertising but is passed up for promotion because she's 'not stable enough', still being single and having no ties to the company. A story is made up about her being engaged to Nick, a guy whom she just met at a friend's wedding, and all seems to work out well for Kate. She even gets the attention of a colleague she had always wanted, but events soon take a dramatic turn, forcing her to 'present' her alleged fiance to her boss.

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Plot Keywords:

female protagonist | yuppie | working woman | new york city | guilt | 

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Taglines:

Kate always lived her life by the rules...some rules were meant to be broken

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sensuality and related dialogue

Did You Know?

Trivia

Allegedly, Jennifer Aniston had a hard time working with Jay Mohr and was mean to him. Mohr subtly referred to the incident in a 2010 interview : "Being on the set of a movie where the leading woman was unhappy with my presence and made it clear from day one." He later said in his Mohr Stories podcast that Aniston pointed right at him on the first day of rehearsal and screamed: "Six guys they screen-test! SIX ... The one f*****g guy I hate, that's the guy they hire. HIM!" Mohr alleges she returned to the soundstage after using the restroom and immediately continued haranguing him: "SIX!" This apparently "went on the entire day" as Aniston kept bad-mouthing him to costar Illeana Douglas. To sum up, Mohr swears "Jennifer Aniston was so f*****g mean to me."

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Goofs

When Kate goes to see Sam at a bar, after Nick has come to New York City, she grabs her purse on the way out. When Nick comes to meet her at the bar, and they are walking home, she is carrying a completely different purse.

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Quotes

Darcy: You're in advertising, Kate: I didn't lie - I sold.

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Connections

References The Little Rascals (1955)

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Soundtracks

Extra Super Fine
Written by Jebin Bruni and Kevin Hunter
Produced by Kevin Hunter and Jebin Bruni
Performed by Dragstrip Superstar

User Reviews

Picture Perfect Not Bad

Jennifer Aniston makes her debut as a bona-fide leading lady in Picture Perfect, in which she plays a talented and charming advertising director named Kate Mosley -- and I do mean charming! Fans of the divine Ms. Aniston will be head-over-heels for this film, watching the leggy knock-out parade around in a serious of provocative and hermetically-sealed outfits. But guess what – for as hot as Aniston is, life just ain't picture perfect! The independent lil' lady can't advance up the corporate ladder because she's unattached and has no liabilities, meaning she has no responsibilities, meaning she could leave the firm at the drop of a dime. On top of everything else, Kate, tired of dating an endless stream of losers, falls for bad-boy co-worker Sam Mayfair (Kevin Bacon), who unfortunately only dates `unavailable' woman and finds Kate `too nice.'

Her colleague Darcy O'Neal (Illeana Douglas) invents a fictional fiancee for Kate based on a silly, random photo taken with a Bostonian named Nick (Jerry McGuire's Jay Mohr) at a wedding the week before. She's only met him once, as he was videotaping the wedding. Frustrated with everything, Kate reluctantly goes along with the harebrained scheme and gets her promotion, as well as her man, for the previously unavailable Sam is suddenly attracted to the now officially-unavailable Kate.

When controlling factors force Kate into generating her fiancee, she hunts Nick down and hires him for one evening to pose as her beloved. He agrees, and the two create a past history for their relationship, as well as a convenient break-up that will take place during a business dinner with her boss.

The catch? Nick falls in love with Kate, Kate unknowingly falls in love with Nick, and Nick becomes uncomfortable with the whole facade. We, the audience, are forced to root for Joe Ordinary (Mohr) over Joe Cool (Bacon), knowing that his hapless, hayseed schtick is probably three yawns too tired for a city-slicker like Aniston's character. I didn't think she should date either of them! Still, contrived and all, it's a pretty good flick, and Aniston is always compelling as an actress (and not just as an object to ogle), mind the one scene where I fell completely out of sympathy with her for being such a crass bitch! But she looked good being one...

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 August 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Picture Perfect

Filming Locations:

Central Park South Restaurant, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,809,026, 3 August 1997

Gross USA:

$31,407,873

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$44,332,015

Company Credits

Production Co:

3 Arts Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1