The movie Perfect (1985) was meant to be a bold, modern drama that would take use of the 1980s’ growing interest in health and fitness, the rise of magazine journalism, and the unquestionable star power of its two stars, Jamie Lee Curtis and John Travolta. James Bridges directed the movie, which was based on a series of Rolling Stone articles about what it’s like to be single in Los Angeles. It was a blend of real news reporting and Hollywood show business. The movie had everything it needed to be a hit: two good-looking protagonists, a relevant setting, and a modern topic. But the movie didn’t go well: reviewers hated it, it didn’t do well at the box office, and people didn’t get it.
Jessie (played by Curtis) and Adam (played by Travolta) are in love in the movie Perfect. Jessie teaches aerobics and has had a lot of troubles in the past. Adam is a journalist for Rolling Stone who writes about the singles scene at fitness clubs around the US. The movie tries to figure out how the media can be both fair and unfair, how to find the truth in a world that values looks above facts, and how people want to connect with each other in a culture that values physical perfection.
But it was the extended aerobics parts of the movie that really caught people’s attention and will stay with them. These passages were really stylized and sexualized. Curtis led hard, rhythm-based workouts in tight leotards, and Travolta either watched or took part in them with a mix of amazement and interest. The camera stayed on moving bodies, with sweat gleaming, muscles tensing, and hips thrusting in ways that a lot of people thought were funny and unnecessary. For a number of people, the aerobics scenes took over the movie’s story and characters. What was supposed to be a serious study at media and identity turned into a soft-focus, silly show.
Jamie Lee Curtis later said she was sorry for the way these situations were handled. She worked hard on her part, both physically and emotionally, and went through a lot of training to seem like a fitness professional. She didn’t enjoy how much sexual energy the workouts were about, though. She informed reporters that the sequences ended up being longer and more sexual than she had expected or agreed to. The project took a toll on her physique; she lost more than 10 pounds of muscle throughout the very hard shoot, which needed her to keep her body looking sculpted and ready for the camera over the long filming schedule.
On the other hand, John Travolta thought the movie was a touch better. Even though Perfect wasn’t at the top of his game, he remembers the experience fondly, notably how well he and Curtis got along on screen and how much fun they had recording the now-famous dance routines. Travolta was really happy to get the part because he was still riding the wave of his dance-based fame from Saturday Night Fever and Grease. In some ways, his character’s change from an outsider who didn’t trust anyone to an emotionally committed participant in the fitness business was like his journey on set.
Jann Wenner, who helped launch Rolling Stone in real life, played himself in the movie, which made it feel even more real. His participation made the portrayal of magazine journalism more lifelike, which made it hard to tell what was real and what was made up. But it was condemned for being overly in love with its idea: the journalist as both an observer and a seducer, recording a culture while being drawn to it.
The title of the movie, Perfect, was designed to suggest a deeper theme: the search for physical and emotional perfection and the price of trying to get there. Curtis’s character showed this battle well: she was very autonomous, emotionally closed off, and very dedicated to her physical discipline, but in the end, she wanted to connect with and understand people. The script wanted to talk about the painful parts of beauty, but the movie’s bright, music-video-style presentation made that message hard to hear for a lot of people.
It was hard to make the movie. The long filming schedule left everyone, including the actors and staff, upset. It was a lot harder because they had to work on making things look and feel better. Curtis, in particular, had to follow a script and be filmed from very close up for every action he made. Those scenes were the best portions of the movie, even though they were hard to see.
Curtis subsequently said that Perfect was a cult hit and even made fun of it on a comedy show when she did her famous aerobics dance again. The piece went viral, which made people want to see the movie again and made them miss its over-the-top style and good intentions. Fans who like its accidental humor and combination of 1980s genres have given what was once regarded to be a mistake in both singers’ careers a second opportunity.
Perfect never turned into the highbrow drama it was meant to be, but it nevertheless serves as a time capsule for a very specific cultural period. It showed how obsessed people are with being healthy, how journalism and entertainment are growing more and more alike, and how hard it is to be perfect in a world where looks matter. People remember this movie not for what it did, but for what it wanted to be. They remember that Jamie Lee Curtis and John Travolta worked particularly hard on the aerobics floor for a movie that had a hard time finding its balance.
