Review – Perfect

If this was the movie it wanted to be, I would make my Reporting I students watch it. The capsule-description of the story makes it sound like perfect viewing for young journalists-to-be: a reporter for Rolling Stone becomes intimately involved with one of the interview subjects for a story he’s doing about health clubs. Along the way the picture touches on several important points about objectivity, damage to people in news stories, and even the legal issues surrounding the protection of confidential sources. Unfortunately, this solid framework supports nothing but crap. John Travolta is radically miscast as the reporter; I don’t buy the notion that this guy can read stories, let alone write them. Jamie Lee Curtis is also disappointing as the aerobics instructor slash love interest. She’s done better work. But the major downfall here is that this “gem” from 1985 surfs the mid-80s trend for making movies that transform even the most important of subjects into cheap excuses for witless dialogue, artless sex and soap-opera goofiness. See if desperate