Simply Perfect

Overrated and overhyped

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This one could have been so much better. It had some potential. Comic potential (the party scene where our heroine was starving and kept trying to get to some food); some potential for the always entertaining ugly duckling into a swan; a great old star (Morgan Fairchild) playing the powerful nemesis that is eventually won over; a very attractive and likable lead actor who played a likable character; and an interesting plot line clashing a romance author with our heroine, an editor trying to make her clients book better, but risking her popularity. There was a cute poor kid and a romantic rival for cutie who was a wolf in sheep's clothing. There was a nice appealing secondary couple as well. All of the usual elements of a hallmance when mixed with some good acting and a well cast troupe can add up to perfectly enjoyable 2 hours worthy of a rewatch in a year or two. Unfortunately, Lindsey Hartley was woefully miscast. She was too old, had the dark looks of a villainess, little comedy chops, and had her make-up applied like it was spackle. They needed a younger actress who could pass for a naïve and nerdy, but smart goofball a little out of her element in the big city. This casting blunder was made even more obvious because her supposed sophisticated and happily married boss was played by an actress 10 years younger. Had they switched roles, it would have gone a long way to making this twice as good. It's a shame, because everything else about the movie was on point.

The usual discussion of wealth versus a really productive life is well shown in this production.Morgan Fairchild steals the film in a supporting role as a bitchy writer who makes excessive demands on the people working with her. One such person is our young editor who moves to California and winds up working for the Wilcox character.Along the way, our young editor meets up with a guy sworn to help humanity, but instead seems to fall for the wealthy attorney. What a rude awakening she has when she finds out what the latter is up to.It's a matter of heart and commitment and both those virtues are memorably shown here.

Lindsay Hartley is a book editor working out of Portland Oregon with a great head for pulling the best points out of a book and a lousy heart for picking guys to fall in love with. So, when her best friend calls her down to Los Angeles to edit best-selling author Morgan Fairchild's latest trashy romance novel, she finds herself trapped between Miss Fairchild's take-it-or-leave-it attitude and two guys. One of the guys looks perfect on paper; he's a rising entertainment lawyer. The other is a nice ne'er-do-well.Well, it's a Hallmark romantic comedy, so we know how it will turn out, complete with the well-mannered Black boy Lindsay and the nice guy mentor. Nonetheless, director Ron Oliver gets some good performances out of his actors. Morgan Fairchild shows some subtlety and frozen humor in her role, quite at odds with the writing. In fact, the script seems to have extraneous issues stripped out to pace the whole show faster and funnier than it rates to be.It's still not great, but it is a very watchable time-waster.