Picture Perfect (1995 film)
Picture Perfect (1995) | |
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Directed by | Joseph L. Scanlan |
Written by | Gregory K. Pincus |
Produced by | Julian Marks |
Starring | Richard Karn Dave Thomas Mary Page Keller Lisa Jakub Christian Campbell Cecilley Carroll John Lefebvre Nada Despotovich Von Flores |
Cinematography | Laszlo George |
Edited by | David B. Thompson |
Music by | Micky Erbe Maribeth Solomon |
Distributed by | Feature Films for Families American Broadcasting Company |
Release date | October 14, 1995 |
Running time | 96 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Picture Perfect is a 1995 comedy film by Feature Films for Families (FFFF) starring Richard Karn and Dave Thomas. First telecast October 14, 1995 on ABC, the film is about two families and Ernie Barrett, owner and CEO of Barrett's Natural Soda.
Plot
Alan Walters (Christian Campbell) and his single mother, Vicky (Mary Page Keller), live next door to widower George Thomas (Richard Karn) and his daughters, JJ (Lisa Jakub) and Delia (Cecilley Carroll). Alan enters both families in a contest sponsored by Barrett's Natural Soda. Ernie Barrett comes to live with them at the Walters house for a week, to find out if they are the perfect family, and brings Marco (Von Flores), a director and an FBI agent, to record it. To begin with, as all of their kids are close friends, Vicky and George are dysfunctional neighbors towards each other who are constantly at each other's throats over certain issues like a hedge offer that George has committed himself to, which however includes even trimming her hedges. So, with their poor relationship while the opposite between their kids, and due to all the people they have to cover for in numerous ways, problems pile up as the two families pretend to be one, and JJ and Alan try to dump Vicky's boyfriend, Bob Blanford (John Lefebvre). The situation gets even more complicated by the arrival and meddling of fake FBI agents Sloan and Malone (Ric Reid and Peter Keleghan). Add a very nosy neighbor named Eve Scrimmer (Nada Despotovich), who planned to tell Ernie Barrett they aren't really a family at all, but fails, and George's boss, Amanda Holt (Lori Hallier), who when convinced the truth that George is single, and in order to stay in his book business, he has to try to keep the difficult situation covered up from also her. Alan decides to use a dating service to hook up Bob with Eve.
During Ernie's stay with the family, they have a fine time at the beach, and that along with barrels of laughs involving the parent's night out at a classy restaurant called Gillian's, and an open mike night at the Beef & Beer. At open mike, George gets stage fright until Alan comes up on stage and grabs an electric guitar. George and Alan sing You Really Got Me. After all is over at the tail end of Ernie's stay, a lot of pressure builds up about how they are going to get through the contest without fail, let alone avoid getting arrested by whom they assumed is the FBI. George's boss, Amanda, just in time catches him with his pants down in the situation, where he has to give her his covered up lie, even because of the situation being in front of Ernie. George has to make a lie about her to Ernie, to avoid the embarrassment. Just in time, also Vicky's boyfriend, Bob, and Eve show up to intensify the situation, ending with them falling for each other. Just as Ernie dubs them the winners of the contest, the whole clan comes clean, blowing the whole cover to Ernie, who gets upset thinking he has to start all over again, because of how he now knows that they are not a real family. But just as it distresses him, he sees George and Vicky kissing, which convinces him that they finally have made up and are willing to make it work. That leads to a wedding of George and Vicky truly being married in the next and final shot, with Ernie and Marco there.
Cast
- Richard Karn as George Thomas:
- Dave Thomas as Ernie Barrett:
- Mary Page Keller as Vicky Walters:
- Cecilley Carroll as Deila Thomas:
- Lisa Jakub as J.J. Thomas:
- Christian Campbell as Alan Walters:
- Von Flores as Marco, Mr. Barrett's documentary filmmaker.
- John Lefebvre as Bob Blanford:
- Bob is Vicky's clueless boyfriend, who wants to move the relationship to the next level. The children dislike Bob, and attempt to get rid of him multiple times. During the deception, the family tells Mr. Barrett that Bob is their next-door neighbor, a Mr. Popporoppakovsky.
- Nada Despotovich as Eve Scrimmer:
- Ms. Scrimmer is the classic nosy neighbor. She uncovers the two families' deception and attempts to blow their cover by telling Mr. Barrett.
- Lori Hallier as Amanda Holt:
- George's editor, she is constantly blackmailing George to go out with her or she will refuse to edit his novels.
Other cast members include Barbara Gordon as Alan's Grandma Matilda, Peter Keleghan as Agent Sloan and Ric Reid as Agent Malone,two FBI agents who are investigating Ernie Barrett, Michelyn Emelle as FBI Agent Ella, Bill Copeland and Maggie Howard as Harvey and Rachel Blanford, Bob's parents, Robert Windsor as Maitre D', and Addison Bell as Bruce Miller.