Now Playing: Perfect

Original release June 7, 1985

Perfect

Cast:
John Travolta – Adam Lawrence
Jamie Lee Curtis – Jessie
Anne de Salvo – Frankie
Marilu Henner – Sally
Laraine Newman – Linda
Mathew Reed – Roger
Jann Wenner – Mark Roth

Directed by James Bridges
Distributed by Sony/Columbia
Written by Aaron Latham

Based on some Rolling Stone articles written by Aaron Latham, Perfect tells the story of young Rolling Stone journalist Adam Lawrence. While chasing a big political, drug-trafficking, illegal sales story he gets the idea to do a piece about health clubs and how they may be the single's bars of the 80s. Heading out to Los Angeles, he encounters the vibrant, energetic people of one particular health club, including Jessie, said to be the best aerobics instructor in the city. Like a good workout, romance does not come easy.



Jessie does not want to be a part of any story. Adam thinks she would be the perfect centerpiece for his story. He fights back and forth with her, kicking up the charm just to maintain a friendly conversation. In the meantime, colorful supporting characters push and pull him between his two main stories and the direction he wants to take either of them. His boss, played by actual Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner, is pushing for him to meet his deadlines. Frankie, the photographer for the magazine, is very assertive in trying to be where she needs to be for that perfect shot. Jessie is lead to believe his story on the health club would be an intelligent coverage of healthy living. While friends Sally, Linda and Roger play into Adam's hands to get the image of a gym as a hook-up place.

Jessie's own constant storming off / running away added to the push-pull effect, making me wonder if the stoory really needed to be told so lengthy. The build works out in the end, and I'm left thinking that all the various facets I had to put up with along the way were necessary to deepen the characters. I keep telling myself that. But other than Jessie finally deciding it would be okay to fall for the guy, it doesn't seem that anyone else really changed or reached any new plateau of awareness.

I would like to take a moment to point out Adam's technological prowess. He was sporting what looked like a laptop, which immediately seemed odd to me given the year. Naturally I did some digging and found the equipment: GriD Compass 1101

Released:	1982
Price:	US$8150
Weight:	10 lbs, 12 oz
CPU:	Intel 8086 @ 8MHz (?)
RAM:	256K DRAM
Display:	6-inch electroluminescent 80 x 24 text 320 x 240 graphics
Ports:	RS-232/422 serial GPIB parallel port
Storage:	internal 384K bubble RAM external floppy drive(s)
OS:	GRiD OS

A scene where Jessie first comes to Adam's hotel room goes like this:
Jessie: “Do you always write with a computer?”
Adam: “Yep.”
Jessie: “You left it on.”
Adam: “I always leave it on. That way if I have a thought in the middle of the night it's already warmed up.”
Jessie: “... May I?”
Adam: “Do you know how to use a computer?”
Jessie: “I took a couple classes.”

In case you can't tell, the GriD Compass is strictly a menu screen. Creating a text-only file, as Adam does when writing, results in a blank, black field with yellow-orange unitext font. There's nothing to not know here. And then she frets about how you delete something, which he teaches her.

After more back and forth between the two, the story Adam planned to write was pretty much fed to him on a platter. Linda was often referred to as “the most used equipment in the gym” and in no uncertain terms said she was using it as a place to meet people because she was tired of the bar scene. Roger and Linda met each other their first day at the club and fell for each other immediately. She had no idea he was a male stripper, sorry, an exotic dancer at Chippendale's, but supported him nonetheless. We lucky viewers did get to watch one of his risque performances, so keep that in mind if you plan to watch with family.

The story fell into Jessie's hands before Adam could finish it, and in a rage she deleted it. It was not a nice story, even if it is true. The concept of one trying to perfect their bodies, to feel good on the inside because they know they look good on the outside, to become perfect, should not be held in such contempt. So Adam did rewrite the story to a piece about being healthy and building a community and yada, yada, yada. His boss did not like it, and Frankie's pictures would not work for it. So the magazine rewrote Adam's story behind his back, based on his notes, so that it went back to what it was before, and even worse.

Of course, Jessie and everyone else from the health club are furious with Adam. But he doesn't have time to try to correct and apologize to everyone because his other story has culminated into a legal issue. Having had his interview with the defendant, the court has subpeonad his tapes of the interview. But he refuses to hand them over because he promised the tapes would never leave his possession, and Adam is a man of his word. He goes to jail for the length of the trial, but this was the heroic and noble act that Jessie needed to see to finally fall for him for good.

I've never really been a fan of romance movies, especially during the 80s and 90s. There was enough distraction in this to make the romance aspect secondary. Overall it wasn't a terrible movie, but it was nominated for three Razzies, from Worst Actor in John Travolta to Worst Screenplay in Aaron Latham, as well as Worst Supporting Actress in Marilu Henner. The music culture can be a bit of a shock, especially since aerobics classes tend to be dance oriented and that this is the 80s we are witnessing here. From Pointer Sisters, Thompson Twins, Wham! and Jermaine Jackson, there is always an upbeat dance track, or else the movie's score. And the workout clothing can be scary and uncomfortable at times. See for yourself in the trailer, which isn't terribly exciting so at least it's true to the film.