Ignore the publicity.
Jennifer Aniston is neither the star nor the hero in "Picture Perfect." She may get the most screen time, but she's really just playing a shallower version of her "Friends" character from television.
The real discovery in "Picture Perfect" is another TV veteran -- "Saturday Night Live" alum Jay Mohr steals the movie as Nick, the only character with any feelings. He's a charmer.
"Picture Perfect" suffers from a hopelessly sitcom scenario. Aniston is advertising executive Kate Mosley. She's smart and dedicated, but her boss says she'll never get anywhere in the world until she settles down and gets married or buys a Mercedes.
So her best friend at work, played without distinction by the normally sympathetic Illeana Douglas, concocts a story that Kate is, in-fact, engaged to a video director who lives in Boston and, thus, can never meet any of Kate's colleagues.
And, wouldn't you know it, hijinx ensue.
Kate's fictional fiance, Nick, was filming a wedding Kate attended, and the two ended up in some photographs she passes off as proof of their relationship.
Nick then has the nerve to save a child from a burning building and become famous, thereby ruining Kate's plans. Everyone at work demands to meet him, so she offers him $1000 to pretend he is her fiance.
In between all this, Kate is working on her campaign for a mustard company with the oh-so-cute slogan "We're number two, and that ain't bad."
Mohr really shines in his role as an honest regular fellow who is hopelessly attracted and embarrased by his attraction to this woefully shallow woman. His internal conflict, as he tries to resolve his feelings for Kate and willingness to do anything for her with his natural honesty, is the real, and only, heart of the movie. Everything else is superficial filling.
Kevin Bacon is the office gigolo, who suddenly finds Kate attractive when he learns she is engaged. Olympia Dukakis is the nagging mother who wants her daughter to get married a la "Look Who's Talking."
Mohr, in fact, has all the charm of John Travolta, and even sounds like him. But while Aniston is charmingly attractive like Kirstie Alley, her character is more annoying than charming. And the worst part is, there's no cute talking baby to help "Picture Perfect."
Not that a mere talking baby could have saved this movie.
Mohr, as good as he is, only appears in a third of the movie. The rest of the film is a wasteland of shallowness. And though it's heavy on sit-com trappings, they're not even good sit-com trappings. It's all been done before, and better, on television.
What's worse than the fact that Kate ignores and rebukes Nick every chance she gets is the fact that the movie does it, too. Every time he has a great moment, director Glenn Gordon Caron cuts to Aniston's reaction, which is nothing special.
The cast of "Picture Perfect" is squandered but believable as shallow advertising executives. The question is why anyone would want to make a movie about these people.
It's probably the type of people who are portrayed in "Picture Perfect" that decided audiences would rather watch a movie about sexy Aniston and her problems at work and in bed than a movie about a hard-working honest guy played by the relatively obscure Mohr.
Aniston may be the picture on all the posters for the movie, but if there's any reason to see the movie, it's the number-two billed Mohr. He may not be as marketable as Aniston, but he sure ain't bad. The rest of the movie is, though.
