Color Me Perfect (1996) starring Michele Lee, Susan Blakely, Robin Thomas Grossman, Stan Cahill directed by Michele Lee Movie Review

Color Me Perfect (1996)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Michele Lee in Color Me Perfect (1996)

My Fair Dina

Scientists Dr. Linda Ryan (Susan Blakely) and Dr. Mitch Conlon (Robin Thomas Grossman) have been working on a drug to boost intelligence and now plan to test it on humans. It is how they come to meet Dina Blake (Michele Lee) a middle-aged woman with learning disabilities who lives with and works for her nephew Andrew (Stan Cahill). Despite Andrew's reservations Dina takes the experimental drug and slowly her intelligence begins to increase whilst she also becomes close to Dr. Mitch. But when things start to reverse themselves it is difficult for everyone involved.

In a fair few reviews I stumbled across for "Color Me Perfect" the movie "Charly" was mentioned, for those who don't know it is a movie from 1968 about an intellectually disabled man who through an experiment becomes a genius. But for me as I watched "Color Me Perfect" now it reminded me of the later movie "At First Sight" which was about a man who was blind given new eyes but then started to lose his sight again. I say this because "Color Me Perfect" is about Dina getting intelligence and then losing it.

Robin Thomas Grossman in Color Me Perfect (1996)

Now "Color Me Perfect" is an interesting movie because it does things gradually with us watching not only Dina growing in intelligence but also comprehending feelings and emotions. It doesn't do this in the most subtle of ways but then builds to the complications which is Dina starting to fall for Mitch which is messy as he is dating Linda. Now that does mean there is some romantic soppiness to this but also the interesting aspect of blame and guilt when things start to reverse themselves. In a way what I am saying is that "Color Me Perfect" is full of good ideas but unfortunately lacks the subtlety and fine tuning which you would hopefully get from a big screen movie.

That subtlety and fine tuning extends to the acting because at times Michele Lee knocks it out of the park in her characterisation of Dina and her difficulties but then at times seems like she if forcing it. It is the same for Robin Thomas Grossman as Mitch because the coldness of the scientist side of his character is too much.

What this all boils down to is that "Color Me Perfect" is a movie full of interesting ideas and could have been made into a touching big screen movie. Sadly it lacks some subtleties and in truth doesn't fully explore the possibilities which the story presents when it comes to the moralistic implications of the story.


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