Picture Perfect (1997) Rated PG13 Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Bacon, and Jay Mohr Rating: out of

It seems that Kate Mosley (Aniston) has been passed over for a promotion. When she confronts her boss, Mr. Mercer (Kevin Dunn), she finds that her lack of roots (no mortgage, no husband, no children) makes him fear that she'll leave his company and take his clients with her. So, as a favor, Kate's friend, Darcy (Illeana Douglas), makes up a little story about Kate. Darcy says that Kate is, in fact, engaged and shows Mr. Mercer a picture of Kate with a man she met once at a friend's wedding, saying he was her fiancé. Kate ends up getting her promotion and wins the attention of the office's "bad boy", Sam (Kevin Bacon), who finds her attractive now that she's "taken."

As the lie spirals out of control, the man in the picture, Nick (Jay Mohr), appears on TV. It seems he's rescued some children from a fire and is now considered a hero. When everyone in the office recognizes him as Kate's fiancé, Mr. Mercer invites Kate and Nick to dinner. Kate must figure out a way to bring Nick in, get him to dinner and break off their relationship in public so as to straighten everything out.

The convoluted plot is one of the many unpleasant things in this movie. Kate is such a conniving, self-centered woman that I found it impossible to enjoy this movie. Watching her take advantage of Nick's good nature was unsettling. Watching Nick take it was even more unsettling. Seeing Kevin Bacon parade around like a stud was also pretty awful.

Romantic comedies, in general, are usually pretty manipulative. A successful romantic comedy can win me over with good performances, an intelligent and witty script or some really funny situations. Picture Perfect lacks all of these and goes beyond being simply manipulative to the point where I actually had to fight my urge to rewind the tape and take it back before the movie was over.

Avoid at all costs.

Trivia: Director Glenn Gordon Caron is responsible for the TV series Moonlighting and the 1988 drama, Clean & Sober, with Michael Keaton. (Source: The Internet Movie Database)