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Lying to Be Perfect

Lying to Be Perfect

Comedy · TV Movie · 2010

Nola Devlin is an unassuming, frumpy magazine editor who is overlooked and teased by her coworkers. Though, when she is behind the glow and anonymity of her computer screen, she becomes the famous advice columnist Belinda Apple. Nola’s friends, tired of being overworked and overweight, band together to create the Cinderella Pact, vowing to lose pounds by following the advice of Belinda Apple. When her secret identity is threatened, Nola is forced to take her own alter ego’s advice. But, as the group of friends drops dress sizes, their real issues are exposed, and better-than-expected life changes begin to blossom.

Movie details

Lying to Be Perfect

2010 Comedy · TV Movie 1h 29m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

5.8 / 10

2.6K votes

TMDB

6.1 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Nola Devlin is an unassuming, frumpy magazine editor who is overlooked and teased by her coworkers. Though, when she is behind the glow and anonymity of her computer screen, she becomes the famous advice columnist Belinda Apple. Nola’s friends, tired of being overworked and overweight, band together to create the Cinderella Pact, vowing to lose pounds by following the advice of Belinda Apple. When her secret identity is threatened, Nola is forced to take her own alter ego’s advice. But, as the group of friends drops dress sizes, their real issues are exposed, and better-than-expected life changes begin to blossom.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Lying to Be Perfect?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Gary Harvey

Written by

Nancey Silvers

Poppy Montgomery

Poppy Montgomery

Nola Devlin

Adam Kaufman

Adam Kaufman

Chip / Alex

Michelle Harrison

Michelle Harrison

Lori DiGrigio

Chelah Horsdal

Chelah Horsdal

Nancy

Audrey Wasilewski

Audrey Wasilewski

Deb

Julia Benson

Julia Benson

Joy

Gabrielle Rose

Gabrielle Rose

Charlotte

Court is in session

Put Lying to Be Perfect on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Popcorn Loyalist

“It owes the canon nothing.”

The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.

The prosecution The Big-Idea Head

“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”

It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.