Picture This isn’t nearly as terrible of a film as I expected but needless to say, it’s also not a very good one either. Tisdale is good in the lead but the story is really farfetched, too much so in fact, and some of the situations they girls are put in are ridiculous and beyond the whole suspension of disbelief. However, I did manage to laugh a few times which is more than I can say for other quick and cheap films targeted at teens.
Picture This (2008)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Comedy, Teen
Fox | PG13 – 92 min. – $19.99 | March 29, 2011
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Stephen Herek
Writer(s): Temple Mathews
Cast: Ashley Tisdale, Kevin Pollak, Lauren Collins, Shenae Grimes, Robbie Amell
Theatrical Release Date: July 13, 2008
DISC INFO:
Features: Featurettes, Select Scene Text Commentary
Number of Discs: 1
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.78
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A
THE MOVIE – 2.75/5
It seems like eons ago but it was only 5 years since the first High School Musical debuted on the Disney Channel to bucko ratings spawning two sequels, one on Disney and the other to theaters where it both had success yet showed dwindling interest from the fans as well. Because of the success of the musicals, its stars also got a shot at fame outside of the series. Zac Efron went on to do a few movies like Hairspray and 17 Again; Vanessa Hudgens, between battling naked pictures online, did Bandslam, Beastly and Sucker Punch; and Ashley Tisdale did Aliens in the Attic and, our movie of the hour and a half, Picture This, a safe enough comedy that takes the definition of reality and tosses it into the landfill.
Tisdale stars as Mandy Gilbert, a teenager dealing with teenage drama centered on school hunk Drew Patterson (AMELL), a guy who is in a different class dating the clichéd high school catty bitch named Lisa (CINDY BUSBY). You see, Mandy comes from one side of town, the “struggling” middle class – despite living in a nice house and owning very nice items – while people like Drew and Lisa living in mansions. And people in Lisa’s upper class look down upon those like Mandy and those in her posse including Alexa (COLLINS) and Cayenne (GRIMES).
Mandy lives under the over-protective, but loving, thumb of her father (KEVIN POLLAK) who is having trouble letting go of his little girl especially when it’s been just the two of them since her mother and his wife died years earlier. But she is daddy’s little girl and for her birthday, he gives her the coolest new video phone – enter LG product placement – to replace her relic of a cell phone. He of course got his own so the two can communicate via video. This comes into play when he grounds her after catching her in a lie. This is horrible timing for Mandy because she finally gets noticed by Drew and was invited to his bodacious party at his palatial mansion.
Being the resourceful teen she is, and the dumb ass her father seems to be, she convinces him to go to her friend’s house to study. He agrees but only under the condition that he check in on her every half hour. Now it’s up to Mandy and friends to make it look like they’re studying no matter where they are, get to Drew’s party while also dealing with the sabotages set forth by Drew’s ex-girlfriend, Lisa.
Now, I submit there’s little about Picture This that is believable. I don’t believe that after four years somebody like Drew would suddenly pay attention to Mandy. I don’t believe that Mandy’s father would fall for the trickery she and her friends try to pull off. I also fail to believe that somebody like Ashley Tisdale would have problems finding a good looking dude. All that said, it’s also a fairly harmless movie. To her credit, Tisdale fills out the lead role well enough and Robbie Amell, for his limited part, is OK as the dashing lead.
In the end, the script (by Temple Mathews) isn’t very good, the story is half baked and the scenarios are farfetched to say the least, but I managed to laugh a couple of times and Ashley Tisdale was good enough in the lead role. In the 3 years since its release on video, it hasn’t exactly made waves other than the star and to a certain extent, as safe as the movie is, it’s also fairly forgettable.
The film was directed by Stephen Herek who previously directed the, from my perspective, forgotten Mr. Holland’s Opus as well as the kid sports classic The Mighty Ducks and another bodacious classic, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure; however, he also managed to helm a couple turkeys including Holy Man, Rock Star, Man of the House and Into the Blue 2.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2/5
The Making of Picture This (8:47; HD) – This is your typical EPK featurette where the cast and crew boast on how great the atmosphere was and how fantastic the movie is.
Cell Phone Confessions (3:56; HD) are a collection of 8 “confessions” from people in the cast (everyone except Tisdale) revealing secrets about themselves and the others.
GR8 Scene Specific Texting! (6:17; HD) – Here we get an annoying cell phone text commentary from the cast (supposedly Lauren Collins and Shenae Grimes) texting through three scenes. Then we also get an “Obvious” version with the same text but in proper English. I will say it’s an interesting concept but I’m more for the audio commentary than text…
The Making of “Shadows of the Night” (3:37; SD) focuses on recording/filming Tisdale’s signature song from the movie.
VIDEO – 3.25/5
Presented in its original 1.78 aspect ratio, Picture This at times looks pretty darn good in 1080p HD but some scenes it looks a tad too clean that I suspect maybe some DNR had been done. However, the detail level is pretty good but sometimes the picture looked somewhat soft as well. It’s not a particularly great looking transfer but I assume it’s an upgrade over the DVD version.
AUDIO – 3.75/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio sounds good with clear dialogue coming via the center channel and some choice pop music, including the impromptu performance by Tisdale and her gals, make use of the front and rear speakers as well.
OVERALL – 2.75/5
Overall, Picture This isn’t nearly as terrible of a film as I expected but needless to say, it’s also not a very good one either. Tisdale is good in the lead but the story is really farfetched, too much so in fact, and some of the situations they girls are put in are ridiculous and beyond the whole suspension of disbelief. However, I did manage to laugh a few times which is more than I can say for other quick and cheap films targeted at teens. The Blu-ray itself ports over all the features from the DVD and has an acceptable video transfer and a good audio track, both of which are upgrades over the DVD makes this catalogue release worthwhile especially if you can pick it up for around $10.
Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published: 04/22/2011
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2.