Picture Perfect (1995 film)


Picture Perfect is a 1995 comedy film by Feature Films for Families starring Richard Karn and Dave Thomas. First telecast October 14, 1995 on ABC, the film is about a pair of teenage neighbors who enter their 'family' – both households combined – into a contest for a soda company; they must keep up the charade if they want to win.

Plot

Alan Walters and his single mother, Vicky, live next door to widower George Thomas and his daughters, JJ, and Delia. Alan enters both families in a contest sponsored by Barrett's Natural Soda, with the condition that the company's CEO, Ernie Barrett, will come to live with them at the Walters house for a week to find out if they are the perfect family; he brings along Marco, a FBI photographer, to record it. Though all of their kids are close friends, Vicky and George are dysfunctional neighbors, and are constantly at each other's throats. With their poor relationship, and all the people they have to cover for, problems pile up as the two families pretend to be one. JJ and Alan even try multiple times to get rid of Vicky's boyfriend, Bob Blanford. The situation gets even more complicated by the arrival and meddling of fake FBI agents Sloan and Malone ; a very nosy neighbor named Eve Scrimmer, who plans to tell Barrett they aren't really a family at all, but fails; and George's boss, Amanda Holt, who pursues him for a relationship. In order to stay in his book business, he has to try to keep the contest covered up from also her. Alan ultimately decides to use a dating service to set Bob up with Eve.
During Ernie's stay with the family, they have a fine time at the beach, with barrels of laughs involving a parents' night out at a classy restaurant called Gillian's and an open mike night at the Beef & Beer. At the 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". At the tail end of Ernie's stay, a lot of pressure builds about how the family is going to get through the contest without their lie being discovered, and avoid getting arrested for fraud by the FBI. George's boss, Amanda, catches him with his pants down, and he has to lie, as Ernie is also there. George also lies about her to Ernie, to avoid embarrassment. 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 their cover to Ernie. He gets upset, thinking he has to start all over again, as he now knows that they are not a real family. He sees George and Vicky kissing, which convinces him that they finally have made up and are willing to make it work; this leads to George and Vicky getting married.

Cast

Other cast members include Barbara Gordon as Alan's Grandma Matilda; Peter Keleghan and Ric Reid as Sloan and 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.