Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Peereddi I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

willman85 I can't believe this movie passed me by for 32 years... It's themed around the '80s aerobics craze. It's got a funky synthy dance pop soundtrack. And it has John Travolta, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Marilu Henner!! I literally DO NOT KNOW why I hadn't heard of this movie. It shouldn't be the case that I'd have watched the B-movie Heavenly Bodies (which also has a sick soundtrack by the way) before I even hear of Perfect.There is good chemistry between the lead couple. They both radiate an inner glow. And they have nice hair.Jamie Lee Curtis has such a tight toned bod. It's a real feast for the eyes to see her in legwarmers, thrusting and bending in all manner of positions. When Travolta's character first laid eyes on her he stays voyeuristically by the doorway, tantalized by the spectacle. I would imagine anyone else would have been the same. Throughout you get to see her in a host of different leotards and sweats; there's this nice loose-sleeved, short-skirted, tied-at-the-waist one-piece ensemble - which she complements with a sweatband - that you see briefly. Another memorable non-leotard outfit is this loose-fitting pink flightsuit/jumpsuit thing that she pairs with aviators.Which segues me onto my next point: If Top Gun felt a little contrived with an unsatisfying plot - but you forgave for its killer soundtrack and breathtaking aerial sequences - then Perfect hits all the points ... well, perfectly. It has breathtaking sexy aerobics sequences, and a great soundtrack, yes - but it also has a proper plot. A couple of them, in fact, that weave seamlessly in the story arc. It's well-written. Good dialogue - I like the seduction with clever conversation, and the speaking-in-sensual-aerobics-metaphors. In short, the movie is uncontrived. It has a story. Which isn't shoehorned. This isn't just "an aerobics movie" that leads to a sexual dance-off in a hot n sweaty gym glass, in the same way that Top Gun is "a fighter pilot movie" that leads to climactic air battles. There's real drama here.And I love Marilu Henner. I think she's so pretty and glamorous. It's a real treat to see her body in her workout gear. A very sexy, shapely woman. And her hair is gorgeous.

MissRebecca Fopheca I have a BS in Merchandising and a love of fashion history, so this movie hits it home for me. As a kid of the 80s, I saw this on HBO/Cinemax probably 15 times. I was just hitting puberty when it came out and I wanted to jump inside that movie and live it. Jamie Lee looks phenomenal (would love to know her training and diet program pre-production) and Marilu is just adorable as the very sweet Sally- there's usually one Sally in every group of gals. I recall step aerobics being huge at that time and Jazzercise but this is very dancy- like the off Broadway production of HipThrust! The Musical. Frankly the aerobics they show is injury-inducing and I really feel for their hip flexors after all that thrusting during production. Back to the movie, I really would love to see more of this club and the background characters. In the opening sequences of the club introduction, there are several racquetball courts, a café area, food and pro shop. The health club in my hometown looked *just* like this, so much so, I think they modeled their club after this movie.

Rodrigo Amaro While promoting "Pulp Fiction" back in the 1990's Tarantino while explaining his casting of John Travolta in what would be one of his most iconic roles, resurrecting his career and taking to a new status, the writer and director didn't mention "Grease" or "Saturday Night Fever" as why he thought Travolta was a good actor. He quoted loving him in movies such as "Blow Out", "Carrie" and this little gem called "Perfect". Such opinions are quite surprising since most of those films (except "Carrie") weren't box-office hits neither well criticized, some gaining cult status in the following years of its release. However, even with Quentin's approval "Perfect" still finds a great deal of unexplainable resistance among film buffs, currently giving to this one of the most absurd low ratings ever given to a quite decent movie. A short way to explain the story is thinking of an "Absence of Malice" made for the masses: it deals with ethics in journalism with Travolta playing a biased Rolling Stone reporter while unsatisfied with the running of a controversial article involving political officials dealing with corruption charges, decides to write a new and apparently harmless article on health clubs and their new function as being a cool dating place replacing the decadent singles bars. Yeah, why bothering going in places where everybody is so down when you go to a happier place, make lots of exercise and meet guys and girls with perfect bodies? There's something worth writing he thinks. Working as an obstacle to this story is a gym instructor (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) who doesn't trust reporters after a career damaging event when a reporter distorted facts while publishing a story involving her. While Travolta's story goes under false pretensions (with a bit of truth in it as well), he can't escape resisting some affection he has by the main character of his article, who each day goes by starts to like this guy, believing he's about to write a good report on the gym and its attendees. The stone in the way of this movie is that its lack of seriousness while the events are being unfolded, often deeply concerned about the romance between the main characters. At times you think something really dangerous is about to happen, he's being followed by someone due to the other inflammable article where Travolta is torn in between telling about what his source said to him on an exclusive interview or go to jail to protect his source, but no, the film doesn't take off much from this scenario except towards its conclusion to be used as a closure to the gym instructor situation, a predictable and not very believable device. But "Perfect" manages to keep you hold to your seat due to the reliable and impressive performances of Curtis, Travolta, Laraine Newman, Marilu Henner and small appearances from Kenneth Welsh and David Paymer. It drags down a bit when it stays for too long in the work out exercises, fun for the actors jumping up and down to the coolest and energic 1980's soundtrack but tiring for us viewers seeing an unimaginative lack of camera angles and poor editing which shifts from two different angles instead of being more acrobatic.Story delivered some valid points (although it can look ridiculously dated now since gym's are also definitely places for dating and no one questions those things anymore), might not be perfect (no pun intended), it was well balanced and easy to follow and feel interested. So, why viewers think this is one of the worst movies ever? Makes me wonder what some of you are watching these days. There's plenty of quality in "Perfect", you just need to open your eyes to see it. 9/10

Nijn1978 Made during the heyday of the aerobics craze, Perfect seemed like a great idea for the studio Columbia to cash in on a trend and more... . Like Travolta's breakthrough picture Saturday Night Fever and Urban Cowboy, Travolta's other collaboration with director James Bridges, it was based on a series of news articles focused on a trend and lifestyle. But in 1983 Flashdance, maybe the quintessential high concept picture, came out, a movie, with no plot to speak of, which was set to an up-tempo chic pop soundtrack and contained a lot of images with a dancing Jennifer Beals double, that were easily marketable to a big audience. And they went to see it in big numbers. Perfect, unfortunately for the studio, came out in theaters when the aerobics craze had already reached it's peak.Perfect contains the same elements that made Flashdance a big commercial success: thin plotting and characterization, an up-tempo pop soundtrack and lots of images of people dancing to the music in sequences that don't seem to further the plot or deepen characterization. But Flashdance didn't pretend to be much more than what it is: namely a cheap piece of fluff. Perfect, on the other hand, strives for something a little more worthwhile, but fails on those accounts. Bridges put in some ethical comments on the profession of journalism. And he also tried to put in a potentially interesting thriller-storyline around the McKenzie character. But these are soon discarded for the romantic storyline between Curtis and Travolta, that starts out in a playful way but soon turns tiresome due to bad plotting and characterization. That's not to say that Curtis and Travolta are bad in this. Curtis, who seems incapable to give an unlikeable performance, especially does her best and nearly lifts the movie with her enthusiasm.What's left of Perfect are a couple of hilariously great aerobics scenes, in which Curtis gives her all, a hilariously great male stripper scene and some really bad hair moments. So, bad movie aficionado's, like me, and Curtis fans, like me, will find something to like in this. Therefore my rating is 6 out of 10.