Written and Directed By Irving Schwartz

Piper Perabo (Jen)
Heather Burns (Ramona)
Seth Myers (Steven)
Ajay Naidu (Kamal)
Mary Beth Hurt (Dorothy)
David Rasche (Phil) 
 
  "Perception" reminds me of the days when I was freshmen in college and I didn't have the foggiest idea how to write a good piece of fiction. My writing professor, after reading my typo ridden attempt at literary substance would ask me.... "what is the story you're trying to tell and where do you think it's going?" These are the questions that floated through my mind as I watched writer/director Irving Schwartz'  "Perception." The thing of it is... I kept seeing a better film in my mind as this ungodly mess tested my ability to remain in a lucid state. To writer/director Irving Schwartz I offer this idea. Why not make it so that Jen (Piper Perabo) has her life changing accident at the beginning of the film. That would've saved the audience from an extremely laborious set up in act one. How many times is a film goer supposed to endure a bunch of sominex inducing and extremely repetitive sequences where Jen (Perabo) recites absolutely horrendous dialogue and does absolutely nothing.  Have the "accident" at the beginning and work back from there. 

  The title of this review is called "Amateur Hour" and for good reason. This is a script that feels like a freshmen in film school wrote it. Every writers task is to navigate that slippery slope called continuity. Either writer/director Irving Schwartz didn't get the memo on continuity or he was in such a rush to hand in his script.... he didn't think the premise through. What am I talking about? Take a look at the Jen character in the first act and the middle act. When we meet Jen in act one she is presented to us as a manipulative and uncaring opportunist who views human contact as a means to an end. Now look at act two, after Jen has her had "accident" and her life is altered. Jen suddenly begins to wonder why she is alone in the world, why no one is paying her any mind. Maybe I'm crazy but this makes absolutely no sense to me; none at all. It's another example of writer director Irving Schwartz NOT thinking his premise through and NOT fleshing it our properly. If Jen is presented to us as a manipulator in act one then she should stay that way in order to set up the middle act and the possibility of an epiphany at films end. 
 
  Plot: Jen (Piper Perabo) has come back in New York after having a career flame out in LA. Jen, master manipulator that she is, has alterior motives for coming home.  Jen, long estranged from her parents, Phil (David Rasche) and Dorothy (Mary Beth Hurt) feels the need to look after them while she's back home in NYC. Of course, Jen just wants to put her conscience at her ease by pretending to be a loving and concerned daughter. The other reason for Jen coming home is her girlfriend, Ramona (Heather Burns.) Ramona is needy and terrified of being alone and Jen exploits this at every turn. 

  Fast forward a bit.... Jen's life takes a rather unexpected turn when a truck plows into her one day. Suddenly... Jen finds herself all alone.... at the mercy of the very people she has isolated herself from... the people she suddenly needs more than anything. I'll stop there you can decipher the rest of the plot on your own. 
 
  It seems like the same old sad refrain for Piper Perabo. If she does a worth while film, her part is usually designed as a plot prop or is miniscule in stature. Or... she ends up being the lead in a train wreck like "Perception." I thought that the rom com she did, Perfect Opposites, was awful but this film takes the cake. Like Perfect Opposites, "Perception" has one of those plots where time magically leaps forward without rhyme or reason. We see Jen in a wheelchair in the waining stages of act two and then the last act begins and voila.... Jen has had a magical recovery. I tell you folks, for a person who did nothing in terms of actual rehabilitation .... Jen sure got better in a hurry. That's the other problem I have with the screenplay for this film. Jen keeps on kavetching about how she wants to walk again after the accident and yet... scene after scene is filled with this character wallowing in self pity. It's not like Jen isn't controlling her destiny. If she would get off of her duff and do her PT regiment, Jen would be able to walk and we wouldn't have to hear her whine about her lot in life all during the second act.  I guess it's a bad sign when you're watching a film and you ask yourself... what is the main character all about and what does she want? Jen wants to keep the world at a distance, wants to use people for her own whims. This character changes not an inch, learns nothing, is as vapid as she ever was after the accident and yet.... we're supposed to buy this illogical payoff at films end, which is essentially a rather amateurish way of saying that Jen has realized the power of karma and how bitter it can be because of its rather cyclical nature. I have no idea what Jen is thinking during the last scene in the film. I have no idea how the two people that actually connect with Jen after her accident are befelled by such tragic circumstances.  Oh I know, the last act of "Perception" has a magic plot and magic plots don't confirm to the creative laws of continuity and or logic. All I know is... Piper Perabo deserves much better material than what she had to work with here. No actor or actress can save a terrible script and between "Perfect Opposites" and "Perception...." Piper Perabo is zero for two in that department.

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age