THE PERFECT FIND - Mark Reviews Movies

The Perfect Find, Netflix

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Review by Mark Dujsik | June 22, 2023

After losing a ten-year relationship and a notable job in the world of fashion, Jenna (Gabrielle Union) has hit rock bottom. After a year in solitude living with her parents, it's time for her to return to New York City, pick herself up, and find a way to get back into the games of business and romance. That's the simple setup of The Perfect Find, which is a fairly enjoyable romantic and workplace comedy until the filmmakers allow far too many complications to overshadow why this material is entertaining.

A lot of the movie's early success is due to Union, who is effortlessly charming and funny in a role that requires such qualities to compensate for how little there is to this character. Jenna is nothing more than the generic lead in a romance, a woman who is primarily focused on her career and skeptical about love—but not enough so to risk everything, apparently, for a charismatic younger guy who shares her interests and is as good as bickering with her as he is in complimenting her.

Forget that the whole premise for this story and the backbones of these characters are based in clichés. If we outright rejected every movie that felt a bit too familiar in some obviously foundational way, there'd be little point in watching any movie—new or old—in the first place. Such things don't matter as much as the filmmakers' ability to find a specific reason for telling a story within the confines of the familiar.

Here, perhaps, the reason is Union, as well as her chemistry with co-star Keith Powers, playing the younger guy who equally sweeps Jenna off her feet and irritates to no end (mainly because he has done such a good job making her believe in romance again). Primarily, though, it's the notion of watching these two characters overcome various personal and professional challenges to make some kind of relationship work. Before the plot becomes far too bogged down by those assorted challenges, these performances and that relationship serve as a pretty decent rationale for telling this predictable story again.

Without any prospects of her own making upon returning to New York, Jenna finds herself in front of colleague and constant rival Darcy (Gina Torres) for a job. Darcy has made something of a fashion media empire while Jenna was busy with her own career and a long-term relationship with Brian (DB Woodside). Jenna promises some big results for the online publication's subscriber numbers. Darcy hires her, although she's none too happy about it.

While out at a bar with some friends to celebrate, Jenna meets Eric (Powers), a young man in his early 20s who recently graduated with a master's degree in film studies. The two hit it off quickly, until Jenna is disappointed in herself for making out with a guy who's about two decades her junior.

To little surprise, Eric shows up at Jenna's office the next day. It's his first day as the publication's new videographer, and to complicate the working dynamic even further, Eric is also Darcy's only son.

The issues here are obvious, of course, but what's pleasant about this tale, written by Leigh Davenport (adapted from the novel by Tia Williams) and directed by Numa Perrier, is that it does concentrate more on Jenna's personal hang-ups with pursuing this romance than on the external factors that could get in the way. That's a major reason why Union's performance is both so refined and so funny: Jenna is constantly at odds with herself, desperately wanting to make a grand return to her career and finding Eric's allure far too tempting to overlook.

There's some fun to be had in that internal conflict, just as it's engaging to watch these two characters find out what they have in common (old movies and a general sense of nostalgia, mainly), argue with each other because the mutual attraction can't be acted upon, and finally giving into those feelings because they're simply too strong. Everything else—from a couple of exes to the tension of Darcy discovering that something might be going on between her new, despised employee and her beloved son—isn't relevant.

Well, it's not, until it is. There's a specific point in Davenport's screenplay when the discovery and fun of the relationship finds itself being affected by those outside forces. Such a turn is almost inevitable, of course, in material such as this, but it feels especially convoluted and shallow after spending so much time with these characters and actors, as routine as the course of their relationship might be. We get jealous misunderstandings involving those exes that could—and at least are—resolved quickly with a simple conversation, and just when all of that is cleared up, the movie's big time bomb explodes in a way that makes us wonder if either of these characters is as aware of that issue as they say they are.

The Perfect Find gradually collapses under the weight of these complications, as well as a couple of tonal shifts that take the hollow material far too seriously. It's disappointing all of that gets in the way of what could have been a fine romance and comedy.

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