Movie Review: Picture This

Stars: 1 out of 5
Pros: One scene

Cons: Characters, not funny, moral

The Bottom Line:

Watching it for free

Still paying too much money

I want my time back

Picture Me Not Watching This Movie Ever Again

While watching ABC Family a couple weeks back, and ad for their newest original movie came on. Picture This looked like a funny if light teenage comedy. Well, it is light and aimed at teenagers. Unfortunately, it not only wasn't funny but left a bad taste in my mouth.

Mandy Gilbert (Ashley Tisdale) is stuck in obscurity. Not only is she geeky, but her father is a bit of an overprotective control freak and her cell phone is stuck in the dark ages. She does have two good friends, but that's about it.

Since seventh grade, she has had a crush on Drew Patterson (Robbie Amell). And, the day before her eighteenth birthday, decides to do something about it. Much to her surprise, it's not as hard as she thought it would be. He even invites her to be his date at a party he is giving this weekend.

However, things take a turn for the worse when her dad (Kevin Pollak) grounds her for almost no reason. She manages to get a reprieve, but only to study. Now she must figure out a way to get an outfit and get to the party, all while fooling her dad with her new, flashy camera phone. But as the situations get out of hand, can she pull it off?

As I expected, the outcome was completely predictable. Even down to embarrassing Drew's ex-girlfriend who isn't letting go easily. That in and of itself isn't enough to ruin a movie for me.

The film sets up a haves vs. have nots situation in the high school. But considering the house Mandy lives in, it is hard to define her as one of the have nots. I'd love to have some of the many these middle class students have. Okay, so Mandy doesn't live in a mansion like Drew. I'll let this one go.

Unfortunately, none of the characters were that sympathetic. We're supposed to feel for Mandy, but she comes across as rather self-absorbed several times. And don't get me started on how her father is portrayed. He means well but is such a control freak he over does it. Actually, there is one decent character, Drew. That is if you don't mind the whole throwing a party with alcohol thing. I'm certainly not blaming any of this on the acting, which is fine. I'm blaming it squarely on the characters themselves.

If this movie were being rated for theaters, I would hope it would get a PG-13. There are several scenes that feature some talk about sex and some others that feature these high school students drinking. It would probably really get a PG rating, which is too bad. I certainly wouldn't want young kids watching it.

Of course, the main reason I wouldn't watch kids watching it is because of the moral. It couldn't have been more obvious if they had shouted it that parents just need to let teens do their own thing. And considering what Mandy does over the course of the movie, they disprove their point. SPOILER ALERT But since Mandy gets away with everything, the teens rule message is the one that we are supposed to walk away with. END SPOILER

Probably because I was struggling with the theme, but I found very little funny about this movie. In fact, most of the time I was squirming, waiting for the other shoe to drop. I will say that I found a scene at a battle of the bands to be funny and clever. But that wasn't enough to save this movie.

Thanks to Ashley Tisdale's popularity, 'tweens, especially girls, will be clamoring to watch this movie. I can't recommend it for that age group because of the themes. And I certainly don't recommend it for anyone older because they will find it dull. In the end, Picture This becomes a picture that never should have been developed.