The Perfect Find Parent Guide

Dumped by her celebrity boyfriend after a ten-year relationship, Jenna (Gabrielle Union) needs to make a fresh start, personally and professionally. Desperate to reboot her career after a year hiding out, she goes to her arch-rival, Darcy (Gina Torres), for a job and gets a 90 day trial position as the creative director of “Darzine”, a magazine devoted to Black fashion.

In a celebratory mood, Jenna and her gal pals go out for a night on the town, where Jenna meets Eric (Keith Powers), a recent film studies grad. Despite the decade-plus age difference, the attraction is immediate and the couple is soon making out. The next morning, Jenna discovers to her horror that Eric is Darcy’s son.

The Perfect Find has a vintage feel to it, and it’s not entirely due to the fashion and décor choices in the film. The relationship between Jenna and Eric feels like an old-time movie with plenty of sniping and quick banter. Under the light dialogue, though, is genuine feeling. Jenna is devoted to her career and has a keen sense of the financial realities that underpin her life. She’s also commitment-phobic, thanks to her past relationship. Eric, on the other hand, is ready to leap into life and love and is hurt when Jenna wants to stay private and go slow. There’s comedy in the farcical situations in which they find themselves, but there’s also heart.

Unfortunately, the movie’s negative content has a decidedly modern twist. Instead of a few kisses in the moonlight, this film features passionate kissing, post-coital bedroom scenes, and two scenes of implied oral sex. Characters drink alcohol and vape marijuana and are shown intoxicated. They also spout profanity, with over 50 swear words in the script, including 13 sexual expletives. This really sabotages the nostalgic feeling that should come from the capably plotted and acted story.

The negative content is particularly disappointing, because this could have been a much better film. Jenna and Eric are appealingly vulnerable, struggling with their dreams, hopes, and fears and trying to figure out where their relationship fits into their lives. The acting is good and Gina Torres goes waaaaay over the top, playing Darcy like some kind of Disney villain. It’s overkill but it’s insanely fun and energizes the film.

More to the point, the story also offers positive messages about fearlessness, honesty, living with integrity, and taking responsibility for your actions. The characters have to decide what they really want and confront the fears that hold them back. It’s a reminder that growth and maturation are key elements for happiness at any age. If only the negative content in the film didn’t make this movie unsuitable for a wider audience…