Our Flick of the Week is the bright romantic comedy “Picture Perfect,” with “Friends” TV star Jennifer Aniston making a most creditable starring feature film debut in a story about a young woman growing up on the job while maturing in her personal life as well.
“Picture Perfect” was co-written and directed by Glenn Gordon Caron, who created the hit TV show “Moonlighting,” and this film has the same sense of frank humor. Aniston plays an advertising copywriter who comes up with a winning campaign for a mustard that is No. 2 in market share. She’d like to get a promotion as a result of her efforts, but her boss lays her out cold when explaining why he’s passing her over: She’s too independent; if she had more money needs — a family, a house, a husband — then he could count on her loyalty to her job.
And with that premise a clever sitcom plot is hatched. Aniston invents a boyfriend and learns a few life lessons along the way. The less I tell you the more you will enjoy the movie. As a non-member of Generation X, I also was entertained by the issues in and behavior patterns of Aniston’s character’s life. She’s bright, ironic and a little lonely. And she’s about to discover an important truism, I think: Work is easy; life is hard.
As for Aniston, she definitely has a future in films, especially if she continues to play characters who are not dumbed-down for mass consumption. Rated PG-13. (star) (star) (star)
– AIR BUD. A child’s fantasy: a pet dog that can play competitive grammar-school basketball. This is the story of a golden retriever who can bounce a thrown basketball off its snout into a hoop from the free-throw line, which is more than Shaquille O’Neal can do. And “Air Bud” is more entertaining than either of O’Neal’s major movies. The dog is an abused stray that has run away from its vicious owner, a sometime party clown (Michael Jeter). His new friend, a 12-year-old boy (Kevin Zegers), has his own set of problems with his father’s recent death. Most of the men in the movie — save for one — are miserable figures, but that is typical of most children’s films these days. Moms are nice; dads are mean. That’s a shame. PG. (star) (star) 1/2
– 187. Samuel L. Jackson stars in a powerful teacher-student drama that could have been a social-message-of-the-week TV movie about the problem of inner-city students physically attacking teachers. This is a far cry from “The Blackboard Jungle,” where Sidney Poitier, playing a student, was merely withdrawn. As the film opens, Jackson is brutally — nearly fatally — assaulted by a student and survives only to work as a substitute teacher in a new school. The overwhelming, lasting message of the film is that at least some high schools are nothing more than holding pens for gang members, and that this is a problem that is easily ignored. Jackson, an excellent, understated actor, is just right for the role, and we can’t help but follow his story and care about his survival. R. (star) (star) (star)
– SPAWN. The hot comic book about a government-trained assassin who has been reincarnated as a disfigured superhero is now a major special-effects movie that often was incomprehensible to me. Journeying from Earth to hell and back, our hero (Michael Jai White) has to juggle competing forces around him, including a devilish clown (John Leguizamo acting and sounding like Dom DeLuise on crack) as well as his megalomaniacal government agent boss (Martin Sheen) and mentor for the good (Nicol Williamson). But forget the story, which would like to offer pathos but fails. “Spawn” is a special-effects show, and the effects overwhelm the plot and the characters. When I think of this film I think of giant insect and lizard-like creatures, and lots of slime and fire. It bored me silly. PG-13. (star) 1/2
– = New this week