‘Picture This’ Doesn’t Work As A Comedy Or Romance

Prime Video’s “Picture This” begins with Pia (Simone Ashley), its non-marriage-minded leading lady, being forced to engage in a pre-wedding task for her much sassier sister. It’s an appointment to look at the wedding jewelry that her mom is storing in a safety deposit box.

Of course, Pia has forgotten the appointment (she doesn’t care about marriage, remember?). Rushing, she puts on an outfit that makes her look like “Cynthia from the ‘Rugrats,’” loses a flip-flop and goes to see “the magic treasure” barefoot.

However, even though she’s shoeless, Pia makes it clear that she is no Cinderella.

“What if I don’t want to get married?” Pia asks her mom. “What if I want to continue to grow the [photography] studio, make a positive contribution to the world, and not be a part of… a social contract that’s just going to distract me from focusing on my career.”

Like its Indian rom-com predecessors, “Picture This” opens with soccer, a female Indian protagonist and a spirited sister who is about to get married, but it is no “Bend it Like Beckham,” the 2002 rom-com about an English soccer player who falls for her non-Indian coach, or “Wedding Season,” Netflix’s 2022 movie about an economist who falls in love with the man she takes as a fake date to more than 14 Indian weddings.

Like the soccer-loving Jess (Parminder Nagra) in “Bend It Like Beckham” and number-crunching Asha (Pallavi Sharda) in “Wedding Season,” Pia has goals. She wants to be a successful photographer, a portraitist who never feels pressured to take passport pictures to make rent. As a driven protagonist not looking for love, she is often annoyed by her overbearing Indian family members (some viewers may see some similarities to Ashley’s role as Kate in Netflix’s “Bridgerton”).

However, even though “Picture This” uses the same combination of elements as those films, it does not utilize them to its benefit. The latter two make you laugh as the characters develop inconvenient feelings for each other. By the end of those films, you are rooting for both professional success and the complicated relationship.

In contrast, by the end of “Picture This,” I wondered how the film had squandered so much potential. The movie stars two popular actors in a premise that has been done before but hasn’t been done enough times to feel boring, but somehow this movie just doesn’t work as either a comedy or a romance.

The thread that is supposed to tie the plot together is Pia’s parents and sister forcing her to go on five blind dates with the intention of picking one of those suitors to take to her sister’s wedding. Of course, it’s not that simple. The love of Pia’s life, Charlie (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), is the groom’s best man, and Pia’s business is failing.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the dates don’t go well. From a psychotic billionaire to a beau who is more interested in someone else to a guitar-strumming actor with zany ideas, Pia not only doesn’t meet her match but also doesn’t even make it through all five dates. Additionally, while the dates do give the plot some structure, they are really mined for their comedic potential without adding any depth.

As a result, the humor isn’t enough to compensate for the flat characters (they are all more caricatures than fully fleshed people, including Pia) or the lack of emotional development between Pia and her ex.

In other words, this is a movie that breaks the cardinal rules of good storytelling; It tells instead of shows. This lazy storytelling also takes place within a plot filled with holes. For example, Pia and her ex broke up before university (he didn’t attend), he’s close enough to her future brother-in-law to be the best man, but they have apparently not seen each other or interacted with each other for a decade.

Also, while Pia and Charlie have on-screen chemistry when they banter in the few scenes that they do share, that chemistry flatlines when they eventually kiss. This undeveloped and lackluster romance may be especially disappointing for fans who have followed Tiffin since his dramatic role as Hardin in the “After” franchise.

Pia’s personal development is also disappointing. For someone who is determined to succeed, she doesn’t work harder or take any steps to advance her career. Instead, she lucks into it (I won’t spoil how, but that moment feels very Gen Z even though she’s a millennial), and the ease with which she finds success radically undermines the film’s premise that she is someone who wants to put herself before a relationship. She doesn’t prioritize herself in any way except to go on disastrous dates.

Instead, the character and romance that deserves more attention in the film is the one that develops between Akshay (Nikesh Patel) and someone else. It has the potential to be far more interesting than Pia’s. (Admittedly, I have a soft spot for Patel because of the phenomenal job he does in “Starstruck,” but his acting and comedic timing as Akshay are some of the best parts of the movie.)

Overall, as a lover of “Bend it Like Beckman” for over two decades and someone who thinks “Wedding Season” is one of the best, if not the best, Netflix-produced rom-coms, I had high hopes for “Picture This.” But, as each minute of the movie passed, those hopes were dashed.

Despite the movie’s poor quality, I’m sure a lot of people will still watch it, especially because of Ashley and Tiffin. I’m also certain that clips will start circulating on social media that make the movie look better than it is. This is one of the problems with anything new now. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad, it will still climb the streaming charts and make the fact that it was made seem worth it. However, if you’re looking for more substance in an Indian rom-com or feeling nostalgic, “Bend it Like Beckman” is streaming on Hulu. You can watch “Wedding Season” on Netflix.